Abnormal protein aggregation and neurodegenerative diseases

Abnormal protein aggregation or amyloid is the major cause of many neurodegenerative disorders. The present review focuses on the correlation between sequence and structure features of proteins related to the diseases and abnormal protein aggregation. Recent progress has improved our knowledge on understanding the mechanism of amyloid formation. We suggest a nucleation model for ordered protein aggregation, which can also explain pathogenesis mechanisms of these neurodegenerative diseases in vivo.