Heat shock protein 10 as a chaperone modulating α-synuclein amyloid fibril formation

Journal article, 2026

HSP10 is a well-known human co-chaperone that interacts with HSP60 to comprise the HSP60/10 chaperonin complex which upholds mitochondrial proteostasis. HSP10 also demonstrates independent roles in binding to misfolded proteins and interacts with several amyloidogenic client proteins. Using a variety of biophysical and biochemical methods, we studied the interactions of HSP10 with the amyloidogenic protein α-synuclein (α-syn) associated with Parkinson's disease. HSP10 efficiently inhibited fibril formation of wild type (WT) and disease-mutant A30P α-syn at sufficient concentrations of chaperone by both binding to α-syn monomers and by blocking secondary nucleation on fibril surfaces. However, under sub-stoichiometric conditions, below 1:5 (HSP10:α-syn), the chaperone sequestered multiple A30P α-syn monomers and thereby promoted nucleation of fibril formation with a magnitude comparable to the efficacy of seeding with preformed fibrils. The fibril formation acceleration effect of the HSP10 chaperone was client-specific as it was observed for A30P but not WT α-syn. Our results broaden the scope of HSP10 chaperone activity and can have implications for disease onset in synucleinopathies.