An Italian scientist has discovered what may be a molecular "switch" that could interrupt the progression of degenerative nerve diseases such as Parkinson's and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sources said Monday.
A Trento University team led by biologist Maria Pennuto discovered that a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy caused by a mutation on the X chromosome was triggered by an alteration of the androgen receptors, making them overly active.
Pennuto's team was able to "switch off" the overly active receptors in sick fruit flies, and this slowed down their degenerative disease.
"Similar switches are present in other proteins associated with other degenerative nerve diseases such as Parkinson's, ALS, Huntington's disease and autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA1)," said Pennuto. "If further research confirms our intuition on the other diseases, we could be on the way to developing new molecular treatments".
The results have been published in Neuron journal.
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