Dundee scientists make‘missing link’ find on Parkinson’s

SCIENTISTS A T Dundee University have made a significant “missing link” breakthrough in the search for new drugs to tackle Parkinson’s disease.

The incurable degenerative condition affects one in 500 people in the UK and has some high-profile sufferers, includingactorBob Hoskins and former world heavyweight champion boxer MuhammadA li.

Scientists at the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at Dundee have identified a new chemical messenger critical in protecting the brain against Parkinson’s.

The research team, led by Dr Miratul Muqit, has made an unexpected discovery, published in the Biochemical Journal, about the way mutations in two genes which lead to the disease interact. Previous research mapped out a key pathway involving the PINK1 and Parkin genes that when disrupted by mutations led to Parkinson’s disease, but the molecular details of the pathway were not understood.

“Our new work suggests a chemical messenger called phospho-ubiquitin, is protective and can’t be made in Parkinson’s patients with genetic mutations in PINK1,” he said. “This leaves their brain cells vulnerable to stress and likely to trigger cell death.”

The Dundee team has worked out that the PINK1 enzyme generates a novel chemical messenger molecule — phosphoubiquitin— which switches on the Parkin enzyme.

“The data suggests that phospho-ubiquitinmolecules will play a critical role in protecting brain cells and thus patients from developing Parkinson’s disease,” Dr Muqit said.

Claire Bale of Parkinson’s UK, said, “This exciting research has revealed the ‘missing link’ between two key proteins known to be important in Parkinson’s. This discovery provides a completely new avenue for developing treatments that can tackle the root causes of brain cell death and could ultimately take us closer to a cure for Parkinson’s.”