Scientists reversed a key feature of motor neuron disease in the laboratory!

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as motor neuron disease, is a progressively fatal disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing muscles to lose control and patients becoming increasingly paralyzed.

In 97% of ALS cases, a common phenomenon is that proteins involved in RNA regulation (called RNA binding proteins) abnormally aggregate from the nucleus of motor neurons into the surrounding cytoplasm

In a new study published today (August 6) in the journal Brain Communications, researchers used skin cells donated from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis grown in the laboratory.

They found that when the VCP enzyme is mutated, the abnormal position of these proteins can be caused, and the VCP enzyme has been shown to increase its activity

Importantly, when researchers block the activity of this enzyme in diseased cells, the protein distribution between the nucleus and cytoplasm will return to normal levels

Jasmin Harley, author and postdoctoral fellow of the Human Stem Cell and Neurodegeneration Laboratory at Crick University, said: “It is very exciting to prove that a chemical substance can reverse a key feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

"More research is needed to investigate this further

As the same group saw in a second study recently published in the journal Brain, efforts to understand the mechanism of ALS disease are ongoing

Giulia Tyzack, author and project research scientist at the Human Stem Cells and Neurodegeneration Laboratory, said: "We are very surprised by the number of different intron-retaining transcripts found in ALS patient cells, which enter the cytoplasm from the nucleus

Jacob Nieves is the author and scientist of the Human Stem Cell and Neurodegeneration Laboratory.

Scientists believe that the collection of intron-retaining transcripts in the cytoplasm may be a factor in attracting RNA-binding proteins into the cytoplasm, although more studies are needed to confirm this

Rickie Patani, senior author, leader of the Crick Human Stem Cells and Neurodegeneration Laboratory, a professor at the Queen’s Square Neurology Institute at University College London, and a neurologist consultant at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, said: “We The two papers jointly demonstrated how laboratory science promotes our understanding of this complex and devastating disease, and provides some assurance that effective treatments may be developed in the future

*Approximately 90% of ALS cases are sporadic and 10% are familial, which means there is a history of the disease in the family

Journal References :

1. Jasmine Harley, Cathleen Hagemann, Andrea Serio, Rickie Patani.

   
   

2. Giulia E Tyzack, Jacob Neeves, Hamish Crerar, Pierre Klein, Oliver Ziff, Doaa M Taha, Raphaëlle Luisier, Nicholas M Luscombe, Rickie Patani.