Interesting concepts for our doctors to apply to our damage.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=126657&CultureCode=en
A new understanding of what takes place on the cellular level during
the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s,
Alzheimer’s, ALS and Huntington’s diseases, offers promise towards
possible new strategies for combating such diseases, say Hebrew
University of Jerusalem researchers.
Neurodegenerative conditions result from an impairment of motor
function or cognitive function or both. This impairment results from
degeneration in the particular area of the brain responsible for those
functions.
Although these neurodegenerative diseases have been functionally
linked to toxic protein aggregation (deposits), there is much that is
unknown about the mechanism through which aggregation causes toxicity
and death at the cellular level. Inclusion bodies – structures comprised
of pathogenic protein aggregates -- have long been seen as a hallmark
of disease, but the relationship between inclusions and disease has
remained somewhat mysterious.
In a study published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences in the US). Hebrew University researchers (working in the lab
of Dr. Daniel Kaganovich in the Cell and Developmental Biology
Department, together with collaborators) present evidence that suggests
that these inclusion bodies, which have traditionally been thought to
accompany disease onset,actually have a cell-biological function that is
not necessarily related to the disease conditions.
Further, the researchers suggest that some of those inclusion bodies
not only are not toxic, but actually are part of a natural protective
process. The researchers have identified two inclusion bodies, which
they call JUNQ and IPOD. Aggregation in the JUNQ can lead to toxicity,
whereas aggregation in the IPOD is protective.
These findings, say the Hebrew University researchers, point up a new
potential strategy for designing therapeutics for neurodegenerative
disease. Instead of preventing proteins from aggregating, which can be
very difficult, it may be possible to enhance the cellular ability to
actively enclose harmful aggregates within protective inclusions,
thereby neutralizing the toxic proteins that bring on further
neurodegenerative damage and even death.
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