Molecular chaperone models and neurodegeneration

随着我们年龄的增长，大脑中的神经细胞可能开始出现故障并死亡，从而导致痴呆症和其他疾病。这一过程与聚集的蛋白质团块有关。细胞拥有由伴侣蛋白组成的分子机器，可以阻止蛋白质聚集。我们正在测试一种特殊的神经细胞伴侣是否参与了大脑中的这些过程，以及我们是否可以操纵这种伴侣来影响聚集体的发育或效果。这项研究可能会突出这种特殊的伴侣蛋白，将其作为开发多种形式的痴呆症和神经退行性疾病治疗方法的潜在新靶点，如阿尔茨海默氏症、帕金森氏症、亨廷顿氏症和运动神经元疾病。

As we age nerve cells in the brain can start to malfunction and die leading to dementia and other diseases. This process is associated with clumps of aggregated proteins. Cells have molecular machines made of chaperone proteins that can stop protein aggregation. We are testing if a special nerve cell chaperone is involved in these processes in the brain and if we can manipulate this chaperone to affect the development or effects of the aggregates. This research could highlight this special chaperone as a potential new target for the development of treatments for several forms of dementia and neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Motor neuron disease.