MSU Team takes on Parkinson’s disease

By Caleb Nordgren | Originally Published: 01/18/12 10:25pm |Modified: 01/18/12 10:36pm | No comments

Each year, about 4 million to 6 million people suffer from Parkinson’s disease and anywhere from 50,000-60,000 new cases are diagnosed, according to national estimates.

But a group of MSU researchers might have found a path to a cure.

Postdoctoral researcher Basir Ahmad, associate physics professor Lisa Lapidus and graduate student Yujie Chen recently published a paper detailing their work with alpha-synuclein proteins — proteins considered to be the cause of Parkinson’s.

As the brain ages, the proteins’ reconfiguration process slows down, causing clumps in the protein chain to form that can lead to Parkinson’s.

Through the team’s research, the group concluded it might be possible to prevent the protein from forming the dangerous clumps. Lapidus said their hypothesis at the start of the experiment — that the reconfiguration rate and the forming of clumps were related — turned out to be mostly correct.

“I wasn’t incredibly surprised (by the results),” she said. “But I was surprised to be right.”

The research completed so far only means it might be possible at some point to prevent the onset of Parkinson’s, Chen said.

Lapidus said there are two potential paths forward.

The first would be to apply the information to other similar diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The only significant difference in the causes of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is the type of protein involved, Lapidus said. If the two proteins behave in the same manner, they also could prevent Alzheimer’s.

The team currently is working on determining what will impact the reconfiguration process to prevent the disease-causing clumps from forming.

The researchers already have a lead in the process with the molecule curcumin.

Ahmad said the research with curcumin showed that, when inserted into a test tube with the alpha-synuclein, the reconfiguration rate went up significantly and almost completely prevented clumping.

They also plan to test the molecule resveratol, which comes from red wine. Once more research is done, a drug might be synthesized that could end the disease.

There might be a snag once research is finished, Lapidus said.

The drug would have to be constructed to be able to reach the brain, which is tricky under the best of circumstances, she said.

There also would have to be further testing once a drug is synthesized, which can take years.

But Lapidus and Ahmad are confident, if their research bears fruit, preventing Parkinson’s someday will be possible.

“We have (only) discovered the first step,” Ahmad said.