Cell res: unexpected discovery! Vitamin B12 may be able to treat hereditary Parkinson's disease!

April 15, 2019 / BIOON / - Iban ubarretxena, a researcher of Basque Science Foundation and director of biofisika Research Institute (csic-upv / Ehu), participated in a study and found a new inhibitor that may be developed to fight Parkinson's disease The related research results were recently published in cell research Photo source: cell reseach Parkinson's disease is the most common chronic neurodegenerative motor disorder, affecting 1% of the world's population over the age of 70 So far, there are no drugs to treat the disease, and the existing treatment is only to deal with its symptoms, but can not delay its progress Although most cases of Parkinson's disease are sporadic, the genetic variation of this disease is mainly related to the gene mutation encoding LRRK2 enzyme In 2004, an international team of researchers found a mutation in the enzyme linked to the disease in patients LRRK2 enzyme, also known as dardardardardina, which means "tremor" in Basque, has become the most attractive therapeutic target for the development of anti hereditary Parkinson's disease The neurotoxicity and pathogenicity related to LRRK2 are mainly due to the increased kinase activity of pathogenic mutations, which prompted the international competition to develop LRRK2 inhibitors At present, there are powerful inhibitors with specific activity of LRRK2 kinase, but many of them will have adverse side effects or very unclear clinical results The latest study, led by Iban ubarretxena and an international team, found that AdoCbl, an active component of vitamin B12, can effectively inhibit the kinase activity of LRRK2 in cultured cells and brain tissues It can also significantly reduce the neurotoxicity of LRRK2 mutants in a series of Parkinson's animal models This study suggests that vitamin B12 may be a new type of modulator of LRRK2 kinase activity "This is a big step forward because it is a neuroprotective vitamin in animal models and represents a new class of inhibitors So we can use it as a basis to develop new therapies for inherited Parkinson's disease associated with LRRK2 mutations " Reference: Adam Schaffner et al Vitamin B12 modules Parkinson's disease LRRK2 kinase activity through exclusively regulation and confers neuroscience, cell research (2019) Doi: 10.1038/s41422-019-0153-8