Technion breakthrough opens new avenues for Alzheimer’s cure
July 14, 2014
Alzheimer’s disease affects approximately 5.2 million people in the United States alone, and it is the nation’s sixth leading cause of death. A cure for this insidious killer has so far proven elusive, but that could soon change as a result of a breakthrough at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology that sheds light on a key mechanism in the accumulation of protein plaques in the tissue of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
The findings were published online last week by Nature Chemical Biology.
“Proteins that constitute major building blocks of our body cells continuously pass through quality control,” explains team leader Prof. Michael Glickman, of the Faculty of Biology. “Defective proteins are sent to the proteasome, a molecular machine (found in all of our cells) that eliminates defective proteins by recycling them back to their building blocks. But a small number of them slip through this process. Proteins that evade the proteasome accumulate, and may be harmful when they reach a critical mass, which is often the case at an advanced age.”
The researchers’ breakthrough findings are centered on UBB +1, a mutation prevalent in Alzheimer’s disease patients. The mutation impairs a protein called ubiquitin* that marks other proteins to be dismantled at the proteasome.
Previously, the prevailing view among scientists was that UBB +1 impairs the functioning of the proteasome itself. But in her doctoral dissertation under the guidance of Prof. Glickman, Dr. Daria Krutauz found that in the presence of UBB+1, damaged proteins are apprehended on their way to the proteasome, and accumulate without reaching their final recycling destination. As a result, they have more opportunity to form the deadly plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Because our findings run contrary to what was previously believed, this discovery opens new venues for intervention in the hope of developing a cure for Alzheimer’s disease,” says Prof. Glickman.
The research team was comprised of Prof. Michael Glickman, Dr. Daria Krutauz and Lab Manager Noa Reis, in collaboration with team members in the labs of Prof. David Fushman at the University of Maryland, Prof. Steve Gygi at Harvard Medical School and Prof. Ashraf Brik at Ben Gurion University.
(* In 2004, Distinguished Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion, and Prof. Ernie Rose from the Fox Chase Institute were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery of ubiquitin.)
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is a major source of the innovation and brainpower that drives the Israeli economy, and a key to Israel’s renown as the world’s “Start-Up Nation.” Its three Nobel Prize winners exemplify academic excellence. Technion people, ideas and inventions make immeasurable contributions to the world including life-saving medicine, sustainable energy, computer science, water conservation and nanotechnology. The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute is a vital component of Cornell NYC Tech, and a model for graduate applied science education that is expected to transform New York City’s economy.
American Technion Society (ATS) donors provide critical support for the Technion—more than $1.95 billion since its inception in 1940. Based in New York City, the ATS and its network of chapters across the U.S. provide funds for scholarships, fellowships, faculty recruitment and chairs, research, buildings, laboratories, classrooms and dormitories, and more.