Amyloidogenesis is a primitive, physiological response that seems to be an ancient process widely distributed in different cell types of evolutionary distant organisms. The amyloid fibril synthesis is part of a more general inflammatory response to stressful conditions all entailing overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interestingly, this event has been integrated into additional physiological functions: (i) the formation of a scaffold promoting the activation and packaging of melanin; (ii) the formation of a scaffold to compartmentalize hormones in the cytoplasm; (iii) the ability to reversibly link different types of molecules to drive close to the nonself; (iv) the construction of a framework to close body lesions. Amyloid fibril formation is a cellular response harmonically integrated with the stress response but for a deregulation in assembling/dismantling, dangerous depots, as in a lot of pathologies, can occur.
Part of the book: Exploring New Findings on Amyloidosis