eLife: Dig deeper into the genes associated with Alzheimer's disease or hopefully help develop new targeted therapies.

September 14, 2020 // -- In a recent study published in the international journal eLife, scientists from the University of Alabama and other institutions tracked a gene that played a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, a gene called BIN1 that was discovered in 2009 with the Alz Sea. In this study, the researchers noted that BIN1 can help regulate the activity of neurons in the brain, which is important because excessive neuroactive hyperexcitability is directly related to Alzheimer's disease, making BIN1 the first key gene associated with hyperexcitation and acting as a driver of Alzheimer's disease.
photo source: University of Alabama at Birmingham genome-wide association study shows bin1 is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, says Erik Roberson, M.D. Genetics Using different methods to increase bin1 expression and measure nerve activity in the brain, the researchers found that neurons with higher BIN1 levels may be more likely to get excited and more likely to overexcite, which is important because hyperexcitability is thought to be a feature of early Alzheimer's disease.
Previously, researchers thought BIN1 was associated with Tau protein, which is the main marker of the disease and the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and noted that we found that Tau played a key role in the hyper-excited play induced by BIN1, reducing Tau levels or enabling neurons to resist bin1's effects on neuron hyper-excitement, and BIN Together with Tau protein, the researchers also found a third factor, the channel that promotes calcium ions into neurons, which are essential for neuron discharge, and the researchers say that calcium ion channels can form complexes with BIN1 and Tau proteins, and that lowering Tau protein levels not only blocks neuron hyper-excitement, but also reduces the formation of such complexes.
Next, researchers will continue to delve into the normal function of other genes in the brain and gain an in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, and are now working together to develop new drugs to block the binding of Tau proteins to proteins such as BIN1; The link between bin1 proteins and calcium ion channels needs to be explored in depth later, and now researchers need to delve deeper into how they bind and how this binding affects the complex's function, and if they can delve into the molecular details behind these interactions, researchers may be able to find new targets for effective disease intervention.
original source: Yuliya Voskobiynyk, Jonathan R Roth, J Nicholas Cochran, et al. Alzheimer's disease risk gene BIN1 induces Tau-dependent network hyperexcitability, eLife (2020). DOI:10.7554/eLife.57354.