Potential for new treatment

26 February 2015

Scientists we fund at the University of Bath have developed a way that might one day mean we could stop toxic build-up of a protein in Parkinson's.

Supporting this kind of innovative research approach is starting to make imaginable today what seemed impossible a decade ago.

Dr Arthur Roach, our director of research and development

The research, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, has highlighted a new way to stop the protein called alpha-synuclein from sticking together and killing cells.

Potential for new treatment

Dr Jody Mason, from the University of Bath's Department of Biology & Biochemistry explains:

"If you think of the misshapen alpha-synuclein proteins as Lego bricks which stack to form a tower; our peptide acts like a smooth brick that sticks to the alpha-synuclein and stops the tower from growing any bigger."

We need more successes

Dr Arthur Roach, our director of research and development, says:

Supporting this kind of innovative research approach is starting to make imaginable today what seemed impossible a decade ago.

"It's a difficult task to develop treatments that can stop the toxic build-up of proteins in the brains of people with Parkinson's.

"Supporting this kind of innovative research approach is starting to make imaginable today what seemed impossible a decade ago.

"We need more successes, like this one, if we are to develop drugs that could actually slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's. At the moment no drugs are capable of doing this."

The next step

Researchers are now looking to test this further and hopefully develop it into a drug that is effective in people.

-       See more at: http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/news/26-february-2015/potential-new-route-slow-parkinsons#sthash.mzvOaKfv.dpuf