(dailyRx)
A variety of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease are defined by trademark protein clusters. Scientists have discovered a small protein that could aid in preventing Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers found that the protein called small ubiquitin-like modifier could possibly prevent grouping into the insoluble protein clusters that typify Parkinson’s disease. The findings were published in the July issue of The Journal of Cell Biology.
Research is edging one step closer to Parkinson’s disease prevention.
In Parkinson’s disease, neurons build up insoluble clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein. Researchers are not certain why these protein buildups occur.
However, investigators found a clue. Petranka Krumova, lead researcher from the department of neurology and department of biochemistry at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and her research team overexpressed alpha-synuclein in human kidney cells and discovered that the protein was modified by the addition of the small molecule SUMO.
Since sumoylation, or SUMO modification, generally boosts the solubility of proteins, the research raised the possibility that SUMO proteins affect the aggregation of alpha-synuclein.
Investigators tested whether sumoylating purified alpha-synuclein hindered its clustering into fibrils, filaments similar to those detected in neurons of Parkinson’s patients. When all of the alpha-synuclein molecules in a solution were sumoylated, then no fibrils appeared.
But if as little as 10 percent of the molecules were sumoylated, fibril formation slowed dramatically.
Parkinson’s
The National Institutes of Health estimate that half a million people in the United States suffer from Parkinson’s disease, and other estimates state that figure may be much higher. Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that results from the death of neurons in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra, the cells that make the neurotransmitter dopamine.
The primary symptoms are a resting tremor (disappears when a patient goes to make a movement), rigidity (stiffness of muscles), bradykinesia (slowness of movment, often seen as a shuffling walk), and unstable posture which leads to frequent falls. As the disease progresses, patients often experience dementia, with changes in mood, cognition, behavior, and thoughts. Depression and anxiety are also common, and psychosis has been seen in late PD. Diagnosis is made from symptoms and neurological exams, but there is no lab test that will clearly identify the disease. If symptoms improve when patients are given drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease, the diagnosis is usually confirmed.