Researchers have identified the protein implicated in the death of the brain cells that cause Parkinson\u2019s: alpha-synuclein.<\/p>\n
What researchers don\u2019t understand, however, is why clumps, or aggregates, of alpha-synuclein accumulating in brain cells are also implicated in Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), and dementia with Lewy bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same protein that aggregates in all these different disorders results in different clinical profiles and symptoms,\u201d says Surabhi Mehra, a neuroscientist and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n
Mehra will spend the next two years trying to decipher the properties of alpha-synuclein that allow it to exhibit this chameleon-type behaviour.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s working on the hypothesis that alpha-synuclein behaves like another class of proteins known as prions. This would mean alpha-synuclein acts as an infectious molecule that can travel from one region of the brain to another and evolve into different strains, causing different diseases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese prion-like strains are not static and they may evolve into each other or may exist as a dynamic cloud of strains, which complicates strategies to develop a drug against them,\u201d Mehra says.<\/p>\n
She will mix different strains of alpha-synuclein together, derived from tissue samples from people with Parkinson\u2019s and MSA, and study them in cell cultures and animal models.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s trying to determine how different strains evolve, and how they block or interfere with one another.<\/p>\n
She hopes to discover how this single protein develops the code that enables it to evolve into these different strains.<\/p>\n
Understanding how these molecular pathways work could reveal new strategies for how to block the spread of the protein or the evolution of different strains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis study will provide a research roadmap, for developing a cocktail of drugs or individual drug therapies,\u201d Mehra says.<\/p>\n
Currently, everyone with Parkinson\u2019s receives the same drug (levodopa) to treat the illness. If doctors knew how people acquired Parkinson\u2019s , they could develop individual treatment plans, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will open a window to better understanding and potential treatment of all these disorders,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Mehra has long felt an urgent need to help find better treatment or a cure for people with Parkinson\u2019s, inspired by her uncle\u2019s long illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not treated well. It always motivated me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Basic research, including this project, is essential to designing drugs that could eventually help people like Mehra\u2019s uncle, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we know the root cause, we know what to target,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"template":"","class_list":["post-32186","profile","type-profile","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t