Protein glycosylation and aging: identify and cure
Scientists at the University of Bath (UK), working under the guidance of Dr. Jean van den Elsen and Dr. Tony James, have developed a new technique that will facilitate not only the diagnosis of early stages of aging-associated diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and cancer, but also the development of treatment methods these states.
With the development of such diseases, the body's proteins are glycosylated – they combine with carbohydrate molecules. At the same time, their functions change, which can lead to the development of complications, such as inflammatory processes and premature aging of the body. The method developed by the authors makes it possible to detect glycosylated proteins and in the future can be used to diagnose a wide range of diseases.
James explains that not all glycosylated proteins are dangerous for the body – on the contrary, in many cases, a carbohydrate residue attached to a protein molecule is necessary to perform its functions. The advantage of the new method is that it allows you to distinguish "bad" glycosylated proteins from molecules that are glycosylated in the usual way.
The method is based on the principle of gel electrophoresis, for which the studied samples are placed in a thin layer of gel, which is affected by an electric current. The gel acts as a molecular sieve that sorts the proteins contained in the sample according to the size and shape of their molecules. This allows researchers to determine which proteins and in what quantitative and qualitative proportions are contained in the blood.
The modification of the method developed by the researchers consists in using a new type of gel for electrophoresis patented by them, which contains boronic acid, which allows separating glycosylated proteins from ordinary ones. The results of the work are published in the journal Proteomics in the article "Analysis of protein glycation using phenylboronate acrylamide gel electrophoresis".
The new method (right) makes it possible to distinguish ordinary proteins from glycosylated ones with greater accuracy than conventional gel electrophoresis (left).
To date, the technique has been tested only in laboratory conditions, but its developers believe that over time it will not only allow diagnosing diseases associated with aging before their clinical symptoms appear, but also facilitate the development of new methods of drug therapy for these diseases.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on ScienceDaily: New technique detects proteins that make us age.
21.12.2009