Photo of Ann-Christin Brorsson

Ann-Christin Brorsson

Senior Associate Professor

Presentation

Publications

2024

Greta Elovsson, Therése Klingstedt, Mikaela Brown, Peter Nilsson, Ann-Christin Brorsson (2024) A Novel <i>Drosophila</i> Model of Alzheimer's Disease to Study Aß Proteotoxicity in the Digestive Tract International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 25, Article 2105 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2021

Greta Elovsson, Liza Bergkvist, Ann-Christin Brorsson (2021) Exploring A beta Proteotoxicity and Therapeutic Candidates Using Drosophila melanogaster International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol. 22, Article 10448 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Linnea Sandin, Simon Sjödin, Ann-Christin Brorsson, Katarina Kågedal, Livia Civitelli (2021) The Luminescent Conjugated Oligothiophene h-FTAA Attenuates the Toxicity of Different A beta Species Biochemistry, Vol. 60, p. 2773-2780 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2020

Liza Bergkvist, Daniel R. Richards, Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, Janet R. Kumita, Peter Nilsson, Ann-Christin Brorsson (2020) Serum amyloid P component promotes formation of distinct aggregated lysozyme morphologies and reduces toxicity in Drosophila flies expressing F57I lysozyme PLOS ONE, Vol. 15, Article e0227227 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Liza Bergkvist, Zhen Du, Greta Elovsson, Hanna Appelqvist, Laura S. Itzhaki, Janet R. Kumita, Katarina Kågedal, Ann-Christin Brorsson (2020) Mapping pathogenic processes contributing to neurodegeneration in Drosophila models of Alzheimers disease FEBS Open Bio, Vol. 10, p. 338-350 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research

Protein Aggregation and Amyloid Pathogenicity

Protein misfolding and aggregation are implicated in a wide range of increasingly prevalent human diseases ranging from dementia to diabetes. The common name for this category of diseases is amyloidosis. Although the clinical manifestations of these disorders vary widely, there are many molecular processes and cellular consequences that are shared by these disorders.

The protein deposits for these diseases are most commonly composed of amyloid fibrils which are characterized by a cross beta-structure. In our research we are investigating the molecular origins and pathogenesis of two important amyloid diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Lysozyme amyloidosis (LA).

AD is a neurodegenerative disease that gradually destroys a person’s brain cells and leads to progressive decline in mental function. The disease is affecting 5% of the population over the age of 65 and as the longevity of humans increases, AD will affect a larger number of people and involve large economic costs caused by minding human suffering. LA is a non-neuropathic systemic amyloidosis where large amounts of protein aggregates can be found in internal organs and eventually cause failure of the organ.

Our research is focused on the aggregation behavior of the Amyloid-beta (Abeta) peptide (associated with AD) and of the protein lysozyme (associated with LA). By expressing Abeta and lysozyme in Drosophila melanogaster we can study the aggregation of these proteins in a complex multicellular environment and look into the role of specific cellular factors and pathways in the pathogenesis caused by misfolding and aggregation. In combination with in vitro biophysical studies, we are then aiming to correlate the formation of particular morphologies of the aggregates with in vivo toxicity. This approach will allow us to investigate the identity of the toxic species formed during the aggregation process of the Abeta peptide and lysozyme to find novel therapeutic strategies to combat these devastating diseases.

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