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April 07, 2005
Another Potential Treatment For HD
The group performed a genetic experiment known as a loss-of-function suppressor screen, which searches for genes that, when switched off, reduce the toxic effects of the mutant protein associated with Huntington's. One of the genes they identified encodes an enzyme, called KMO, that has been previously implicated in the disease. The enzyme functions in a metabolic pathway that is activated at early stages of the disease in people with Huntington's, as well as in animal models of the disease."The nice thing about this finding is that there is a chemical compound available that inhibits KMO activity," said Dr. Paul Muchowski, assistant professor of pharmacology at the UW, who led the study. "We're in the midst of testing that compound in a mouse model of Huntington's disease."...
In addition to finding a potential drug target for future Huntington's treatment, the study by Muchowski and his colleagues could take research on the disease in a new direction: towards microglial cells, which are immune cells in the brain. Previous research has focused exclusively on neuronal cells, but the enzyme KMO is found predominantly in microglial cells. Since inhibiting KMO activity has a direct effect on toxicity of the mutant protein associated with Huntington's, that could mean microgial cells are home to an important step in progression of the disease.
Posted by Dave at April 7, 2005 03:09 AM
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