Major breakthrough for Dundee University Scientists.
They've made a discovery that could help the way we treat Parkinson's disease.
Researchers at Dundee University have identified a gene that could help them develop drugs to either slow or reverse the effects of Parkinson's disease.
The condition- which has no known cure- progressively damages the brain over many years, leading to body tremors, slow movement and stiffness in the muscles.
Scientists spent the last eight years trying to identify the PINK1 gene, which repairs damaged brain cells- keeping the disease at bay.
They now hope to develop drugs to target the gene, which becomes damaged in patients with Parkinson’s.
“Solving the structure and workings of PINK1 gives us crucial insights in to how it exerts a protective role in Parkinson’s,” said Dr Miratul Muqit, who co-led the research team.
“That knowledge can lead to the development of new drugs which could be designed to switch on PINK1 to the benefit of patients with Parkinson’s.”
Professor van Aalten, his research partner, said, “There has been great interest in directly targeting PINK1 as a potential therapy but without knowledge on the structure of the enzyme, this posed a major barrier.
Our work now provides a framework to undertake future studies directed at finding new drug like molecules that can target and activate PINK1.”
He added: “This provides detailed insights into how mutations carried by hundreds of Parkinson’s patients worldwide interrupt the function of the enzyme.
“This is a good example of collaborative research resulting from scientists with different expertise working together.
“It is only with the hard work of several PhD students and postdocs that we have been able to make this transformative step in our understanding of how PINK1 works.
"As is often the case, having now solved this important problem, there are many new interesting questions on PINK1 that will direct our future research.”
Dr Muqit added, “Our research has been focused on defining the most fundamental aspects of the causes of Parkinson’s which we think will uncover new ideas for better treating the disease in the future.”