Boosting protein protects against Parkinson's disease

 WASHINGTON (AFP) - Boosting the output of a protein produced by brain cells 
called astrocytes can provide complete protection from Parkinson's disease, a 
study published Monday showed.
 A movement disorder characterized by tremors and sluggishness, Parkinson's 
disease occurs when dopamine-producing nerve cells in a part of the brain 
called the substantia nigra die or become impaired, making the body's muscles 
less able to function smoothly and in a coordinated manner.
 Boxer Muhammad Ali, actor Michael J. Fox and the late pope John Paul II are 
among well-known sufferers of the disease.
 In the study, the results of which were published in the Proceedings of the 
National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison studied mice with astrocytes that produced twice the normal 
level of a protein called Nrf2.
 Even when the mice were pumped full of a chemical known to cause Parkinson's 
disease they were completely protected from the movement disorder, the study 
showed, concluding that it was the Nrf2 protein produced by the astrocytes 
which shielded the mice from the chemical's toxic effects.
 Pei-Chun Chen, a postdoctoral fellow from Taiwan, crossed the mouse that 
over-produced Nrf2 with another mouse in which the protein was knocked out, 
and found that the knock-out mouse was also completely protected from the 
chemical toxicity which causes Parkinson's disease.
 The dopamine metabolite level was reduced by 90 percent in the knock-out 
mouse, but it was completely untouched with Nrf2 in astrocytes and did not 
develop Parkinson's, said Jeffrey Johnson, a professor in pharmaceutical 
sciences at the University of Wisconsin who led the study.
 We didn't expect the complete abolition of toxicity, Johnson told AFP.
 In December, University of Wisconsin scientists found that increasing Nrf2 
could delay the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's 
disease, and studies are ongoing to determine the effect of the protein on 
sufferers of the neuro-degenerative Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases.
 My instinct is that astrocyte dysfunction is probably common to all these 
diseases, Johnson said.
 It's becoming apparent that astrocyte dysfunction is a major contributing 
factor to the neurons dying, Johnson said.
 If we can make the astrocyte better or stronger, or so that it doesn't become 
dysfunctional, you can preserve the neurons, he said.
 The researchers have begun long-term experiments in mice to see if 
intervention to reverse Parkinson's is possible after damage has already 
occurred.
 Parkinson's disease patients, by the time they are diagnosed, there's a 
significant loss of neural function, said Johnson.
 The question is: how many of those neurons are actually dead or just not 
working right?
 If neurons are still there but can't function because of the environment, 
changing the environment may not only prevent further loss, but it may also 
make those that are sick healthy again, and you may get cell recovery, 
Johnson said.
 According to the National Parkinson Foundation, around 1.5 million Americans 
suffer from Parkinson's disease, and some 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each 
year.

http://www.euronews24.org/health/boosting-protein-protects-against-parkinsons-disease-study/

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