Bloqueio da atividade do LRRK2 não é uma resposta simples para a doença de Parkinson

may 30, 2012 - Mutations in the LRRK2 gene are the most common cause of genetic Parkinson's disease (PD). New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration demonstrates that loss of function of LRRK2 (by deletion of the kinase domain) leads to changes in motor co-ordination and causes anxiety-like behaviors and kidney degeneration in mice without affecting dopamine-mediated brain activity.

The protein LRRK2 is involved in regulating the structure and function of neurons. Aberrant LRRK2 has been shown experimentally to have subtle effects on dopamine signaling which may mirror the earliest changes in PD patients. In order to investigate how LRRK2 works researchers from Mayo Clinic deleted the kinase domain of LRRK2 protein in mice.

Dr Heather Melrose, who lead this study explained, "Since the gene is too big to delete the entire gene we targeted the kinase domain because we regarded this as the most important functional region. The specific section we deleted, exon 41, encodes the activation hinge of the kinase. The experimental strategy actually resulted, as we hoped, in a complete loss of the LRRK2 protein in the mice." (segue...) Fonte: Science Codex.