LONDON (Dispatches) -- Scientists have optimized a peptide known to prevent the protein error that gives rise to Parkinson’s disease. They believe it is a strong candidate for future development into a cure.
Professor Jody Mason at the University of Bath in the UK said: “A lot of work still needs to happen, but this molecule has the potential to be a pre-cursor to a drug. Today there are only medicines to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s -- we hope to develop a drug that can return people to good health even before symptoms develop.”
Parkinson’s Disease is characterised by a specific protein in human cells ‘misfolding’, where it becomes aggregated and malfunctions. The protein -- alpha-synuclein (αS) -- is abundant in all human brains. After misfolding, it accumulates in large masses, known as Lewy bodies. These masses consist of αS aggregates that are toxic to dopamine-producing brain cells, causing them to die. It is this drop in dopamine signalling that triggers the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, as the signals transmitting from the brain to the body become noisy, leading to the distinctive tremors seen in sufferers.