Laser Sheds Light on Mitochondrial Response to Calcium Ions
Molecular biologists at the University of California, Irvine, have pinpointed a common set of small molecules called toxic soluble oligomers that may be responsible for neuron damage in Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease (please see Comparisons), type II diabetes, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a fatal brain-deteriorating disease for which there is currently (as of January 2004) no treatment or cure. This set of small molecules causes an accumulation of amyloid protein that results in damage to the cells and eventually cell death. Likewise, in HD, huntingtin protein aggregates (clusters together) in the nerve cells, causing them to deteriorate.
Since many of the toxic soluble oligomer molecules have a similar structure and function, researchers believe that they can “unlock” a particular antibody, releasing the chemicals necessary to protect the neurons. Scientists are trying to develop one vaccine that targets a range of toxic molecules in order protect against various neurodegenerative diseases.
It is likely that the buildup of amyloid protein and the aggregation of huntingtin protein are essentially similar ways of clogging cellular machinery and ultimately killing the cells. Researchers are now working on a vaccine specifically for HD that targets the mutant huntingtin protein. In HD mouse models, this type of vaccine has been shown to slow the progression of the disease.
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