New Therapy for Amyloidosis

Currently, no therapy directly targets plaques of amyloid in the various forms of systemic amyloidosis, in part because several quite different proteins misfold in different forms of the disease. However, all amyloid plaques contain serum amyloid P (SAP). SAP is present in the circulation and homes to amyloid plaques that are forming.

In a mouse model of amyloidosis, a European team targeted SAP by using two forms of therapy. In mice that were genetically engineered to make human (not mouse) SAP, the team induced chronic inflammation to produce a disease similar to human systemic amyloid A amyloidosis. They then created a molecule that bound to circulating SAP and a monoclonal antibody that targeted SAP in plaques. The mice were first given …