Instead of targeting the tricky protein behind Parkinsons, a new compound attacks the RNA that produces it.<\/p>\n
Parkinsons disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremor, slowness of movement, limb rigidity, and walking and balance issues. <\/p>\n
In Parkinsons, a misfolded protein named -synuclein causes the degeneration and destruction of brain cells. The more -synuclein builds up, the more neurons die. <\/p>\n
Now, scientists from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and Scripps Research in Jupiter, Florida, have developed a way to decrease the amount of -synuclein the body produces.<\/p>\n
New technology allowed scientists to identify a compound that shuts down the messenger RNA (mRNA) coding for the destructive protein, preventing the production of -synuclein and the progression of Parkinsons.<\/p>\n
The researchers NIH-funded study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n
According to the Parkinsons Foundation, over 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinsons disease, with 1 million of those being in the United States.<\/p>\n
Each year, about 60,000 U.S. adults receive a diagnosis of the disease.<\/p>\n
The incidence of Parkinsons increases with age, although about 4% of people who receive a diagnosis are less than 50 years old. Men are 1.5 times more likely to develop Parkinsons than women.<\/p>\n
Currently, there is no cure for Parkinsons disease, and it is truly a devastating disease, says neurology professor M. Maral Mouradian of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Institute for Neurological Therapeutics, and a co-author of the study.<\/p>\n
Numerous other approaches have attempted to address the production and buildup of -synuclein, but since the protein has no regular structure and continually changes shape, it has proven difficult to hit with medication.<\/p>\n
Several other experimental drugs, says Mouradian, currently being tested for Parkinsons disease are antibodies that target a very late stage of -synuclein protein aggregates. <\/p>\n
We want to prevent these protein clumps from forming in the first place before they do damage and lead to advancing disease.<\/p>\n
The new research began when Mouradian reached out to chemistry professor Matthew D. Disney of Scripps to explore the potential for a new technology that Disney had invented for matching RNA structures with small-molecules or drug-like compounds.<\/p>\n
The scientists had a hunch that they might find a match for the mRNA that coded for -synuclein and that the mRNA might offer a more stable, predictable target than -synuclein itself. The hunch paid off.<\/p>\n
For the first time, we discovered a drug-like compound that has the potential to slow down the disease before it advances through an entirely new approach, says Mouradian. <\/p>\n
They named their compound Synucleozid, and Mouradian describes it as highly promising. <\/p>\n
While Synucleozid may be most effective in people with minimal symptoms and who are in the early stages of Parkinsons, Mouradian says, This new compound has the potential to [] change the course of life for people with this devastating disease.<\/p>\n
Synucleozid may be of value beyond Parkinsons since -synuclein has implications in dementia with Lewy Bodies, another progressive condition that affects 1 million people in the U.S. alone.<\/p>\n
The study also makes clear the promise of Disneys RNA\/protein-matching technology. As Mouradian says, The reach of our study could go beyond people with Parkinsons disease to many other neurodegenerative diseases. <\/p>\n
It is a classic example of how interdisciplinary research leads to significant change.<\/p>\n
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