Find in News Talk Sites Images For advanced search options, click here . Subscribe for free email updates . Click here to sign up, or log in . To A Mystery Surrounding Alzheimer s, Huntington's And Other Neurological Diseases Stanford researchers have found an answer to a long-standing mystery surrounding Huntington s, Alzheimer s, Parkinson s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Healthy cells have the ability to break down and eliminate unwanted proteins.
But in neurodegenerative diseases, abnormal proteins clump together to form clusters called aggregates that interfere with the cell s normal functions. It s been known for years that most neurodegenerative diseases are associated with protein aggregates, says Ron R. Kopito, professor of biological sciences and co-author of the study, but no one had a clue as to the exact relationship. To find out, Kopito and graduate student Neil F. Bence designed a laboratory experiment to assess the impact of protein aggregates on the inner workings of a cell. The proteasome is like a salami slicer that cuts protein molecules into little bits, he says. It gets rid of abnormal proteins, and it breaks down and recycles regulatory proteins no longer needed by the cell.