Identification of disease switches in the body
More than 3500 molecular switches have been recognised in the human body by a party of scientists from the Max Planck Institute and the University of Copenhagen.
These so-called ‘switches’, which act as protein regulators, may soon become key indicators of the aging of humans and the treatment of common diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. The team recently featured details on their discoveries in the July 09 series of the scientific journal, Science.
Approximately 3,600 acetylation switches in 1,750 varying proteins have been identified by the group of scientists led by Professor Matthias Mann from Novo Nordisk Center for Protein Research at the Max Planck Institute and University of Copenhagen.
“This is more than just a technological achievement,” says Professor Mann, it has also expanded the number of known acetylation switches by a factor of six, and it gives us for the first time a comprehensive insight into this type of protein modification.”
Small molecules, or switches, are added to proteins which regulate how these proteins behave, in turn coordinating the numerous day-to-day functions they are able to perform. Acetylation is crucial for the normal functioning of a cell. The ageing process and development of diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and cancer can be directly influenced by defective protein regulation.
“With the new mapping, we can now begin to study and describe how acetylation switches respond to medications that could repair the defects on them. It can have a major impact on medical care,” Prof Mann says, and adds that medication for the restoration of faulty protein regulation is already displaying positive results in cancer treatment.
Cooperating proteins
The group has also learnt that the modification of acetylation occurs mainly on proteins that work in harmony, and that the consequences that these switches have for the organism’s function are much more important than previously assumed. For example, the addition of an acetylation switch to Cdc28 (an important growth protein in yeast) can disrupt the organism’s functionality and in turn it’s ability to stay alive.
Findings and results were published in the 17 July 2009 edition of Science
Source: University of Copenhagen
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