Many human disorders are characterized by amyloid accumulation, in particular Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus and Parkinson’s disease. Research shows that copper enhances amyloid activity and mediates human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) oligomerization.
Yan-Mei Li and co-workers at the Tsinghua University, in China, have used copper (and nickel) to mimic these effects and it has helped shed some light on why we observe cytotoxicity for type 2 diabetes.
Curious to know more, why not download the article today and blog some comments below? Published in ChemComm, this article is free to access until the 8th October.
