Direct Observation of the Interconversion of Normal and Toxic Forms of a-Synuclein

UCL Institute of Neurology Parkinson’s Disease (PD) experts Dr Emma Deas, Dr Andrey Abramov and Professor Nicholas Wood joined forces with prominent Cambridge biophysicists Dr Nunilo Cremades, Professor David Klenerman FRS and Professor Christopher Dobson FRS to identify the pathological species of alpha-synuclein responsible for nerve cell damage during disease.

Together, they identified that the structural conversion of alpha-synuclein aggregates from alpha-helical to high beta-sheet content was highly damaging to nerve cells.  These exciting results were published last month in the prestigious scientific journal “Cell”.

This important discovery not only advances our current understanding of the disease but also lays the foundation for the development of novel drug therapies, which can specifically ‘attack’ this species of alpha-synuclein to prevent nerve cell damage occurring.

Reference:

Direct Observation of the Interconversion of Normal and Toxic Forms of α-Synuclein

Nunilo Cremades, Samuel I.A. Cohen, Emma Deas, Andrey Y. Abramov, Allen Y. Chen, Angel Orte, Massimo Sandal, Richard W. Clarke, Paul Dunne, Francesco A. Aprile, Carlos W. Bertoncini, Nicholas W. Wood, Tuomas P.J. Knowles, Christopher M. Dobson, David Klenerman

Cell - 25 May 2012 (Vol. 149, Issue 5, pp. 1048-1059)