(Press-News.org) New research results from Uppsala University, Sweden, show that the key to treating neurodegenerative prion diseases such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease may lie in the ribosome, the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. The results were recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolding of prion proteins. Examples of prion diseases are scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in human.
What triggers misfolding of the prion proteins to the amyloid disease form is an open question. The inadequate knowledge in the field about the factors involved in prion formation makes the discovery of effective medicines for prion diseases rather challenging.
"We have now shown that the protein folding activity of the ribosome (PFAR) is most likely involved in prion propagation and thus, can be a specific target for antiprion medicines. If we understand the mechanism fully, we will be able to find ways to stop that too.", says Suparna Sanyal, senior lecturer at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University .
The ribosome is the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. The mechanism of protein synthesis by the ribosome is well characterized, while PFAR is a rather recent discovery. PFAR is a ribosomal RNA dependent function of the large subunit of the ribosome irrespective of its source. The PFAR center closely overlaps the peptidyl transferase center although the nucleobases responsible for these two functions are not all common.
"Our results show that two prion inhibitors 6-aminophenanthridine and guanabenz acetate implement antiprion activity by binding to ribosomal RNA and inhibiting PFAR. Thus, the ribosome and more specifically PFAR is the new target for antiprion medicines. Furthermore, we have developed an in vitro PFAR assay, which can be used as a platform for screening prion inhibitors in a high-throughput fashion. This assay is much more time and cost-effective than standard prion assays", says Suparna Sanyal.
###
Reference: Pang, Y., Kurella, S., Voisset, C., Samanta, D., Banerjee, D., Schabe, A., Dasgupta, C., Galons, H., Blondel, M., and Sanyal, S. (2013) The antiprion compound 6-Aminophenanthridine inhibits protein folding activity of the ribosome by direct competition. J. Biol. Chem. doi/10.1074/jbc.M113.466748
For more information, please contact Suparna Sanyal, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, phone: +46 18-471 42 20, suparna.sanyal@icm.uu.se
The ribosome -- a new target for antiprion medicines
2013-07-02
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Companies look at wrong things when using facebook to screen job applicants
2013-07-02
Employers are increasingly using Facebook to screen job applicants and weed out candidates they think have undesirable traits. But a new study from North Carolina State University shows that those companies may have a fundamental misunderstanding of online behavior and, as a result, may be eliminating desirable job candidates.
Researchers tested 175 study participants to measure the personality traits that companies look for in job candidates, including conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion. The participants were then surveyed on their Facebook behavior, allowing ...
Corn yield prediction model uses simple measurements at a specific growth stage
2013-07-02
The ability to predict corn yields would benefit farmers as they plan the sale of their crops and biofuel industries as they plan their operations. A new study published in the July-August issue of Agronomy Journal describes a robust model that uses easily obtained measurements, such as plant morphology and precipitation, collected specifically at the silking growth stage of the plant. The new model could help both growers and industry maximize their profits and efficiency.
Forecasting crop yield can be extremely useful for farmers. If they have an idea of the amount ...
New hardware design protects data in the cloud
2013-07-02
CAMBRIDGE, Mass -- Cloud computing -- outsourcing computational tasks over the Internet -- could give home-computer users unprecedented processing power and let small companies launch sophisticated Web services without building massive server farms.
But it also raises privacy concerns. A bank of cloud servers could be running applications for 1,000 customers at once; unbeknownst to the hosting service, one of those applications might have no purpose other than spying on the other 999.
Encryption could make cloud servers more secure. Only when the data is actually being ...
Are thoughts of death conducive to humor?
2013-07-02
Humor is an intrinsic part of human experience. It plays a role in every aspect of human existence, from day-to-day conversation to television shows. Yet little research has been conducted to date on the psychological function of humor. In human psychology, awareness of the impermanence of life is just as prevalent as humor. According to the Terror Management Theory, knowledge of one's own impermanence creates potentially disruptive existential anxiety, which the individual brings under control with two coping mechanisms, or anxiety buffers: rigid adherence to dominant ...
Flexing the Verification Muscle
2013-07-02
The logistics were impressive, the timeframe tight, the conditions tough.
From 26 May to 7 June 2013, nearly 150 experts from 40 countries set up shop on a military training ground near Veszprém, Hungary, for a simulated search for evidence of a nuclear explosion. Fifteen trucks transported 120 tons of state-of-the-art equipment from the CTBTO's Vienna storage facility to the site, where a fully functioning base of operations was established. Welcome to the world of on-site inspections (OSI).
An OSI, a Treaty-specified search of the suspect area to determine if ...
Music to a gambler's ears
2013-07-02
Winning sounds on slot machines make gambling more exciting, according to a new study by Mike Dixon and colleagues from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Moreover, their work shows that sounds also cause players to overestimate the number of times they won while playing on slot machines. The study is published online in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies.
Sound has always been an integral part of the slot machine playing experience. Since the early 1900s, players have been rewarded with a ringing bell every time they have a winning combination. Today's slot machines ...
Neighborhood residents with lowest incomes most likely to care about their communities
2013-07-02
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Some may assume that low-income residents of run-down, crime-ridden neighborhoods do not care about their communities. However, research from the University of Missouri suggests otherwise.
Mansoo Yu, an assistant professor of social work and public health at MU, studied levels of community care and vigilance among residents living in high-crime, low-income areas. Community care and vigilance refer to individuals' desires to improve their communities, to take pride in their neighborhoods and to monitor and report unwelcome happenings, such as crimes, near ...
Joslin scientists find that salsalate lowers blood glucose in type 2 diabetes
2013-07-02
BOSTON – July 1, 2013 -- Joslin scientists report that salsalate, a drug used to treat arthritis, lowers blood glucose and improves glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. These findings, which were published today by the Annals of Internal Medicine, provide additional evidence that salsalate may be an effective drug to treat type 2 diabetes.
The scientists became interested in studying salsalate, an anti-inflammatory drug, after research conducted by Steven Shoelson, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the Section on Pathophysiology and Molecular Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine ...
Hijacking stress response in cancer
2013-07-02
Cancer cells have alteration in metabolic pathways as a result of oncogenes that promote tumor growth. NRF2 (nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2) works as a "master gene" that turns on stress response by increasing numerous antioxidants and pollutant-detoxifying genes to protect the lungs from variety of air pollutants such as diesel exhaust and cigarette smoke. However, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and others have found for the first time that NRF2 signaling also plays a role in the growth of tumor cells by altering ...
Dissecting the distinctive walk of disease
2013-07-02
PITTSBURGH -- Older adults diagnosed with brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease often feel a loss of independence because of their lack of mobility and difficulty walking. To better understand and improve these mobility issues—and detect them sooner—a University of Pittsburgh multidisciplinary research team is working toward building a more advanced motion test that addresses a wider range of walking patterns and movements.
In a recent issue of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, researchers from Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, ...