Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

AI and protein structure and function in neurological disease: relevance to disease management

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 19, pages 453–454 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Protein misfolding and aggregation are common features of neurodegenerative disorders. Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool that can predict protein structures with remarkable accuracy, helping us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of protein aggregation and potentially informing new strategies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Levinthal, C. Are there pathways for protein folding? J. Chim. Phys. 65, 44–45 (1968).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Vecchi, G. et al. Proteome-wide observation of the phenomenon of life on the edge of solubility. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 1015–1020 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. de Oliveira, G. A. P., Cordeiro, Y., Silva, J. L. & Vieira, T. C. R. G. Liquid-liquid phase transitions and amyloid aggregation in proteins related to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Adv. Protein Chem. Struct. Biol. 118, 289–331 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Chiti, F. & Dobson, C. M. Protein misfolding, functional amyloid, and human disease. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 75, 333–366 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Jumper, J. et al. Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold. Nature 596, 583–589 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Baskakov, I. V. From posttranslational modifications to disease phenotype: a substrate selection hypothesis in neurodegenerative diseases. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22, 901 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Espay, A. J. & Okun, M. S. Abandoning the proteinopathy paradigm in Parkinson disease. JAMA Neurol. 80, 123–124 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. van Dyck, C. H. et al. Lecanemab in early Alzheimer’s disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 388, 9–21 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Schweighauser, M. et al. Structures of α-synuclein filaments from multiple system atrophy. Nature 585, 464–469 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Yang, Y. et al. Structures of α-synuclein filaments from human brains with Lewy pathology. Nature 610, 791–795 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

T.F.O. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy (EXC 2067/1 project no. 390729940) and by SFB1286 (B8). T.C.R.G.V. is supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Neurodegeneration, Center for Biostructural Imaging of Neurodegeneration, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Tiago F. Outeiro

  2. Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany

    Tiago F. Outeiro

  3. Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

    Tiago F. Outeiro

  4. Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), Göttingen, Germany

    Tiago F. Outeiro

  5. Institute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Tuane C. R. G. Vieira

  6. National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Tuane C. R. G. Vieira

Authors
  1. Tiago F. Outeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tuane C. R. G. Vieira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tiago F. Outeiro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Outeiro, T.F., Vieira, T.C.R.G. AI and protein structure and function in neurological disease: relevance to disease management. Nat Rev Neurol 19, 453–454 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-023-00840-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-023-00840-z

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing