Two teams of French and Belgian researchers have succeeded in understanding the mechanism that operates in Parkinson’s disease. Or at least, in part. Scientists have based themselves on the determining role of a protein, alpha-synuclein, suspected for several years to be responsible for certain neurodegenerative diseases. What to feed the hope of a treatment in the near future …
When we ask Professor Ronald Melki, CNRS research director, whether the mystery of Parkinson’s disease has finally been solved, he does not hesitate for a second: ” Partly, certainly “. Yet for fifteen years researchers have come up against a real enigma: how the same protein, alpha-synuclein, can trigger several different diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia or multisystem atrophy? Professor Melki and his teams have finally found the solution: it is the form of assembly of this protein that induces a particular disease. Two different forms of aggregates were thus highlighted: one “spaghetti” and one “linguine”. ” These two shapes have different surface properties even though they are made of the same molecule., says Professor Melki. This is why I compare them to pasta, which has the same constituent but different shapes.Experimental tests in rats have shown that the “spaghetti” form of protein aggregates caused more Parkinson-like symptoms in rats.
Neutralize aggregates: the hope of a cure
In what way does this discovery constitute a great day against this disease which affects approximately 1% of over 65s (ie 150,000 people in France and 100,000 people in Canada)? It’s very simple: it is now possible to believe in a treatment capable of preventing or stopping the disease. The goal would be to neutralize these aggregates of proteins so that they stop passing from cell to cell, contributing to the degeneration of neurons. How do you get there? ” By changing their surface properties, assures Professor Melki. We can do this by attaching antibodies or by a strategy that we initiated three years ago in my laboratory where we use proteins called molecular chaperones ”. To sum up, it would be a question of disguising the protein aggregates so that the neurons no longer recognize them. “Molecular chaperones will block disease progression to a stage where there are no symptoms yet or freeze symptom progression», Explains Prof. Melki. A line of research which promises to be fascinating and which raises many hopes …
Source α-Synuclein strains distinct cause synucleinopathies after local and systemic administration, W. Peelaerts, L. Bousset, A. Van der Perren, A. Moskalyuk, R. Pulizzi, M.Giugliano, C. Van den Haute, R. Melki, V. Baekelandt. Nature, 2015 Jun 10. DOI: 10.1038 / nature14547. |