Aqui el link https://huntingtonsdiseasenews.com/2017/01/19/nrf2-protein-may-prevent-neuron-death-in-huntingtons-disease-by-promoting-cell-cleaning-mechanisms/
Si te interesa probar NRF2 buscanos, te orientamos donde puedes conseguirla.
Protein May Prevent Neuron Death in Huntington’s Patients, Study Finds
A
protein called Nrf2 can help maintain healthy levels of proteins
associated with neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s
disease, thereby protecting neurons from death, according to new
research.
Results of the study, “
Nrf2 Mitigates LRRK2- And α-synuclein–induced Neurodegeneration By Modulating Proteostasis,” were published in the journal
PNAS.
Neurodegenerative disorders — such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and
Alzheimer’s diseases, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — are
caused by the abnormal accumulation of faulty proteins in neurons. That
impairs the neurons’ activity and leads to their death.
Researchers from the
Gladstone Institutes
have found that the Nrf2 protein can protect those neurons. They used
cultures of rat and human neurons derived from pluripotent stem cells
— expressing either mutated LRRK2 or alpha-synuclein (two proteins that
contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease) — to test the
effect of increasing Nrf2 levels.
They saw that increasing Nrf2 levels activated “house-cleaning”
mechanisms within neurons, causing them to remove the excess LRRK2 and
alpha-synuclein.
“Nrf2 coordinates a whole program of gene expression, but we didn’t
know how important it was for regulating protein levels until now,” the
study’s first author, Gaia Skibinski, PhD, said in a
news release.
“Overexpressing Nrf2 in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease resulted
in a huge effect. In fact, it protects cells against the disease better
than anything else we’ve found.”
The team found that Nrf2’s “cleaning” effect was carried out in two
ways: It promoted the storage of mutated LRRK2 in clumps that do not
interfere with neuronal activity, and it induced alpha-synuclein
degradation, reducing levels of the protein inside the cell.
“I am very enthusiastic about this strategy for treating
neurodegenerative diseases,” said Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD, the
study’s senior author. “We’ve tested Nrf2 in models of Huntington’s
disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS, and it is the most protective
thing we’ve ever found. Based on the magnitude and the breadth of the
effect, we really want to understand Nrf2 and its role in protein
regulation better.”
Researchers are trying to devise a strategy that could allow for therapeutic targeting of Nrf2’s downstream effectors.
