Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, say they have developed a promising potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
It targets toxins that damage the energy factories of nerve cells in the brain, known as the mitochondria.
Professor Xin Qi has studied how mitochondrial damage can lead to neurodegenerative diseases. Her lab was the first to identify tangles of a rogue protein called alpha synuclein as the culprit of the cascade that leads to nerve damage, and eventually Parkinson’s disease.
Now she’s developed a custom molecule, a peptide dubbed CS2, which blocks alpha synuclein from attacking mitochondria.
“I truly believe the peptide could be one of the therapeutic options in the near future,” Qi said.
The CS2 molecule only attacks the toxic form of alpha synuclein and has few potential side effects, she added.
“We found CS2 shows protection with causing any damaging effects,” she said.
It’s one of the first therapies that attack the root cause of Parkinson’s disease rather than just addressing the symptoms.
The peptide has only been tested in mice and on human neurons in a Petri dish so far, but Qi is hopeful it will someday be a frontline defence in slowing the progression of Parkinson’s.
She’s formed a start-up company called JanusQ to pave the way for clinical trials.
