Margherita Romeo, Maria Monica Barzago, Alessandro Corbelli, Silvia Maglioni, Natascia Ventura, Carmina Natale, Andrea Conz, Mario Salmona, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Nuvolone, Fabio Fiordaliso, Giampaolo Merlini, Luisa Diomede
{"title":"Modeling immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis in Caenorhabditis elegans.","authors":"Margherita Romeo, Maria Monica Barzago, Alessandro Corbelli, Silvia Maglioni, Natascia Ventura, Carmina Natale, Andrea Conz, Mario Salmona, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Nuvolone, Fabio Fiordaliso, Giampaolo Merlini, Luisa Diomede","doi":"10.1242/dmm.052230","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiomyopathy determines the prognosis of patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis, a rare systemic disease caused by the misfolding and deposition of monoclonal light chains (LCs). The reasons underlying their cardiac tropism remain unknown, and an animal model recapitulating the main pathological features of AL amyloidosis is needed. Taking advantage of the similarities between the vertebrate cardiac muscle and Caenorhabditis elegans pharynx, we developed a new transgenic nematode expressing a human amyloidogenic λ LC, the sequence of which was deduced from a patient with AL amyloidosis with cardiac involvement (MNH). Strains expressing a non-amyloidogenic LC (MNM) or the empty vector only (MNV) were generated as controls. At variance with controls, LCs expressed in the body-wall muscle of MNH worms formed soluble dimeric assemblies, which could be secreted and reach different organs. Notably, MNH worms exerted a pharyngeal impairment resembling cardiac functional dysfunction in patients with AL amyloidosis, accompanied by increased radical oxygen species production and tissue ultrastructural damage. This new animal model could help to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the cardiac-specific toxicity occurring in AL amyloidosis, providing innovative insights into the pathophysiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":11144,"journal":{"name":"Disease Models & Mechanisms","volume":"18 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12320968/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Disease Models & Mechanisms","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.052230","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/7/25 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cardiomyopathy determines the prognosis of patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis, a rare systemic disease caused by the misfolding and deposition of monoclonal light chains (LCs). The reasons underlying their cardiac tropism remain unknown, and an animal model recapitulating the main pathological features of AL amyloidosis is needed. Taking advantage of the similarities between the vertebrate cardiac muscle and Caenorhabditis elegans pharynx, we developed a new transgenic nematode expressing a human amyloidogenic λ LC, the sequence of which was deduced from a patient with AL amyloidosis with cardiac involvement (MNH). Strains expressing a non-amyloidogenic LC (MNM) or the empty vector only (MNV) were generated as controls. At variance with controls, LCs expressed in the body-wall muscle of MNH worms formed soluble dimeric assemblies, which could be secreted and reach different organs. Notably, MNH worms exerted a pharyngeal impairment resembling cardiac functional dysfunction in patients with AL amyloidosis, accompanied by increased radical oxygen species production and tissue ultrastructural damage. This new animal model could help to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the cardiac-specific toxicity occurring in AL amyloidosis, providing innovative insights into the pathophysiology.
期刊介绍:
Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM) is an online Open Access journal focusing on the use of model systems to better understand, diagnose and treat human disease.