A group of Canadian researchers say they have developed a procedure that targets proteins that cause disease and destroys 'bad apples' in the cell.
The findings, by the University of British Columbia’s Brain Research Centre, has important implications for a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, stroke and even cancers, the researchers say.
“This technique is revolutionary, because it can reduce or remove the pathological form of the protein without impacting the normal form of the protein or harming other proteins in the cell,” says Xulai (Shelly) Fan, who co-led the study with Prof. Yu Tian Wang of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine.
The team used the new technique to disable protein function temporarily in brain regions affected by disease. Directly targeting specific proteins in a cell is important, they say, because many disease-causing proteins have normal functions in the cell. They become harmful – or bad apples – only during certain disease processes.
“If we can target these proteins temporarily, we may be able to save neurons without impacting the patient’s overall health,” says Dr. Wang. “This technique has broad applications, so it’s a very exciting finding.