Nat Chem Biol: Harvard University study finds that a group of molecules could treat Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodysfunction disorder, mainly affecting the elderly, is after tumors, cardio
blood vesselsdisease after the "third killer" of middle-aged and elderlyParkinson's treatment has stalled for yearsBut a recent study by Singapore's NTU Singapore and Harvard University found that a pair of promising molecules offered hope for the development of a new treatment to relieve Parkinson's diseaseA recent study by NtU Singapore and Harvard University in Singapore found that a pair of promising molecules offered hope for a new treatment to relieve Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease, affecting between 7 and 10 million people worldwideLower levels of dopamine in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease make it difficult for them to control their autonomous movements, showing symptoms such as tremors and stiffness in the hands, arms and legsThey also develop non-motor symptoms, such as sleep disorders, depression and loss of smellthrough laboratory research and inviviable experiments, a team led by Yoon Ho Sup from nanda's School of Biological Sciences and Professor Kwang-Soo Kim from King McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the United States found that a group of "molecular pairs" of prostaglandinE E1 (PGE1) and prostagland aureus A1 (PGA1) are key to increasing dopamine levels and slowing Parkinson's diseasePGE1 and PGA1 bind to Nurr1, a protein critical to the development and maintenance of dopamine in the braintheir binding causes Nurr1 to be activated, leading to a large amount of dopamine production, and preventing the death of dopamine-producing brain cellsAfter activation of Nurr1, the motor function of mice with Parkinson's disease improved significantlyImage captionwhile many studies are still needed, these findings could provide new avenues for developing drugs that activate Nurr1 to fight Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's is currently an incurable disease, and while there are treatments, such as dopamine-producing medications or the use of currents for deep brain stimulation, these treatments have side effects that can only address the patient's symptoms and do not alleviate or suppress Parkinson's disease "Given the basic function of nurr1, we have been looking for activated molecules in the body, " says Professor , Ultimately, we successfully identified that PGE1 and PGA1 are molecular pairs that are specific to Nurr1 and can have a neuroprotective effect on the brain Given that none of the candidate Parkinson's drugs have demonstrated the ability to protect nerves in clinical trials, our findings may provide an opportunity to design mechanism-based disease-improving therapies to treat Parkinson's disease in a way that has few side effects The the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Chemical Biology in May 2020, was carried out by researchers from Singapore, the United States and South Korea prostaglandins (PGE1/PGA1) - the key to fight Parkinson's disease
prostaglandins are one of the hormone-like substances in the body that are responsible for a wide range of body functions such as the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscles, the expansion and contraction of blood vessels, the control of blood pressure, and the regulation of inflammation their regulatory effects in activating Nurr1 dopamine function have not been studied in order to identify and characterize the way pgE1/PGA1 activates Nurr1, the team used MRI and X-ray crystallography to decipher the structure of the molecules involved, revealing for the first time the details of the COMBINATION of PGA1 that led to the activation of Nurr1 these findings from cell experiments were subsequently supported by invived inviving inviviese Parkinson's disease, which showed significant improvements in their motor function when PGE1 and PGA1 were used Professor King said: "By revealing molecular interactions, we have gained a deeper understanding of the biological function and regulation of Nurr1 in health and diseases such as Parkinson's disease Our findings in this study increase our understanding of how dopamine neurons work and point to the development of new treatments for Parkinson's disease "The importance of this finding is not a new molecule,
but a molecule with anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties," said Professor Lim Kah Leong, associate research associate and co-author of the study at nanda Li Guang, a former medical school in Prostaglandins such as PGE1 can be used in clinical cases, such as obstetric cases This means that the compound is likely to be repositioned to treat Parkinson's patients, speeding up the time it takes to deliver experimental drugs to the clinic Currently, scientists are looking for a synthetic form of PGE1/PGA1 and are testing it as a potential new drug that can target Nurr1, thereby preventing or reversing the onset of Parkinson's disease