How to remove dead batteries
Breakthrough: the key to accurate diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease has been found
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
Most cases of incurable Parkinson's disease are characterized by damage to the mitochondrial utilization system. And scientists have found molecules that will help to "fix" it in the future.
About 35 million people worldwide suffer from Parkinson's disease. It is believed that 5-10% of cases are directly caused by genetic factors, but a complex combination of heredity and the environment is responsible for the rest.
Despite the fact that this neurobiological disease may have different origins in different patients, researchers from Stanford University were able to identify a molecular marker characteristic of most cases. Scientists took skin samples from 83 patients with this disease and their relatives, 22 patients with other movement disorders and 52 healthy people.
Fibroblast cells were extracted from the samples and cultured in Petri dishes. Then the cells were subjected to stress, which damaged the mitochondria – the intracellular structures responsible for energy production.
It is assumed that it is the defect of mitochondria in dopaminergic neurons that underlies Parkinson's disease.
Damaged mitochondria release toxic free radicals. Usually cells successfully get rid of "dead batteries", but in Parkinson's disease this process is disrupted. Molecular structures lose the ability to remove the Miro molecule from the surface of worn-out mitochondria, which protects them from disposal.
The analysis showed that the Miro removal system did not work in 94% of patients with Parkinson's disease. In the control group and in people with other movement disorders, this was not observed.
Then the researchers began to look for compounds to restore the mitochondrial recycling system. To do this, they analyzed 6,835,320 small molecules from a commercially available database. 11 of them potentially facilitated the separation of Miro from mitochondria.
The third stage of the work is experiments on fruit flies. They confirmed that four of the 11 selected molecules actually reduce Miro levels without harm to the body. In addition, one of these substances restored the mitochondrial utilization system in the cell culture of a patient with Parkinson's disease.
Thus, the team not only discovered a reliable biomarker of Parkinson's disease, but also identified a promising drug for treatment. Moreover, the medicine can help patients regardless of what factors caused their disease.
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