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:

Medin amyloid may drive arterial aging and disease in the periphery and brain

Nature Aging volume 3, pages 1039–1041 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Aging is a major risk factor for vascular disease. Increased levels of milk fat globule-EGF factor 8 (MFG-E8) are associated with many age-related arterial changes, but the mechanisms remain unclear. We propose that these detrimental effects may result from medin, a fragment of MFG-E8 that forms a highly common vascular amyloid.

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

Fig. 1: Schematic summary of the role of medin amyloid in vascular aging and disease in the periphery and brain.

References

  1. Ni, L. et al. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 11, e022574 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Ruotsalainen, S. E. et al. Commun. Biol. 5, 802 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Jukarainen, S. et al. Nat. Med. 28, 1893–1901 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Häggqvist, B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 8669–8674 (1999).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Peng, S., Glennert, J. & Westermark, P. Amyloid 12, 96–102 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Degenhardt, K. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 23925–23931 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Wagner, J. et al. Nature 612, 123–131 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Karamanova, N. et al. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 9, e014810 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Migrino, R. Q. et al. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 315, H284–H290 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Larsson, A. et al. Amyloid 13, 78–85 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Whitehead, M. et al. Aging Cell 22, e13746 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Davies, H. A. et al. Amyloid 26, 148–155 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Davies, H. A. et al. Biophys. J. 109, 2363–2370 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Migrino, R. Q. et al. Alzheimers Dement. 12, e12072 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Madine, J. & Middleton, D. A. Eur. Biophys. J. 39, 1281–1288 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to J.J.N. (NE 1951/2-1 and -2), and VA Merit BX003767 and NIH R21AG075543 grants to J.M. and R.Q.M.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Jillian Madine & Hannah A. Davies

  2. Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System and University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Raymond Q. Migrino

  3. Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Sanni E. Ruotsalainen

  4. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany

    Jessica Wagner & Jonas J. Neher

  5. Department of Cellular Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Jonas J. Neher

  6. Metabolic Biochemistry, Biomedical Center (BMC), Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

    Jonas J. Neher

Authors
  1. Jillian Madine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hannah A. Davies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raymond Q. Migrino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sanni E. Ruotsalainen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jessica Wagner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jonas J. Neher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonas J. Neher.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

A patent application for anti-medin immunotherapy has been submitted by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (inventors: J.M., R.Q.M.). The other 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

Madine, J., Davies, H.A., Migrino, R.Q. et al. Medin amyloid may drive arterial aging and disease in the periphery and brain. Nat Aging 3, 1039–1041 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00481-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00481-3

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