A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that a protein can promote the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic side, according to a new study published in the December 29 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PALS, which also publishes some studies on recombinant human proteins).

The researchers tested Nrf2 in two Parkinson's disease models, which are cells with protein LRRK2 and α-synuclein mutations respectively. By activating Nrf2, the researchers turned on several "housekeeping" mechanisms in the cell to remove excess LRRK2 and α-synuclein.

"Nrf2 coordinates the entire process of gene expression, but we don't know how important it is to regulate protein levels," says lead author Dr. Gaia Skibinski. "Over-expression of Nrf2 in Parkinson's disease cell models has a huge effect. And in fact, it's better than anything we've found to protect cells from disease."

In this study, scientists used pluripotent stem cells to produce mouse neurons and human neurons and then programmed neurons to express Nrf2 and the mutant LRRK2 or α-synuclein. Using a robotic microscope developed by Finkbena Labs, researchers tagged and tracked individual neurons, monitoring their protein levels and overall health over a period of time. They spent thousands of cells in the process of imaging a week to monitor the development and death of each cell.

Scientists have found that Nrf2 works in a different way, helping to remove intracellular mutant LRRK2 or α- synuclein. For the mutant LRRK2, the Nrf2 drives protein to aggregate into irregular clumps that can be retained in the cell without damaging it. For α-synuclein, Nrf2 accelerates protein breakdown and clearance, reducing its level in the cell.

"I have confidence in this strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases," senior author Finkbeiner said in the text. "We have tested Nrf2 in Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease and the ALS model, which is the most effective thing we've found, and we wanted to better understand the role of Nrf2 and its role in protein regulation, based on the magnitude and extent of its effect.

Scientists say that Nrf2 itself may be difficult to target with drugs because it participates in many cellular processes, so they are now focusing on some of its downstream effects. They hope to find other roles in the protein-Nrf2 interaction to improve cell health and to find pathways that can be more easily manipulated with drugs. By the way, Flarebio provides superior recombinant proteins like recombinant ITGB5 for your research.