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- Barker, Roger A., et al.
(författare)
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A new approach to disease-modifying drug trials in Parkinson's disease
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - 0021-9738. ; 123:6, s. 2364-2365
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Translating new findings in the laboratory into therapies for patients is a slow and expensive process. The development of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases is further complicated by the difficulty in determining whether the drug truly retards the slow degenerative process or provides only symptomatic benefit. In this issue, Aviles-Olmos et al. describe a first in Parkinson's disease (PD) patient study using a drug previously approved for diabetes treatment. In addition to suggesting that the drug may indeed be disease modifying in PD, their innovative approach suggests there may be more rapid and inexpensive avenues for testing novel therapies in PD.
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| 2. |
- Benner, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Modet att ta ansvar
- 2008
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Ingår i: Forska lagom och vara världsbäst? Sverige inför forskningens globala strukturomvandling.. ; , s. 155-166
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 8. |
- Ström, Anna-Lena, 1975-
(författare)
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Expression and functional analysis of the SCA7 disease protein ataxin-7
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by cerebellar ataxia and visual problems due to a progressive and selective loss of neurons within the cerebellum, brainstem and retina. The disease is caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the first coding exon of the SCA7 gene, resulting in an expanded polyglutamine domain in the N-terminal part of ataxin-7, a protein of unknown function.To expand our knowledge of the ataxin-7 protein and the mechanism by which mutant ataxin-7 causes disease, we have studied the expression and function of both the normal and the mutated ataxin-7 protein.Ataxin-7 expression was examination in brain and non-CNS tissues from SCA7 patients and age-matched controls. Expression was predominantly nuclear in neurons throughout the brain of both healthy and SCA7 individuals. We also observed aggregation of mutant ataxin-7 in the nuclei of neurons. No obvious difference in the expression level of ataxin-7 or the formation of aggregates could be observed between affected and non-affected brain regions in SCA7 patients. Based on these findings, we could conclude that the cell type specific neurodegeneration in SCA7 is not due to differences in expression levels or to the formation of ataxin-7 aggregates.To widen our studies on ataxin-7 expression, we isolated and characterized the mouse SCA7 gene homolog. Cloning of the mouse SCA7 gene revealed two SCA7 mRNA isoforms that were highly homologous to their human counterparts. Immunohistochemical analysis also revealed a conserved expression pattern of ataxin-7 in adult mouse brain. In addition, ataxin-7 expression was observed during embryonic development in brain as well as in several non-neuronal tissues such as heart, liver and lung.Besides SCA7, eight neurodegenerative disorders are known to be caused by expanded polyglutamine repeats, including SCA 1-3, 6 and 17, DRPLA, SBMA and Huntington’s disease. The polyglutamine disorders have many features in common and a common pathological disease mechanism involving transcriptional dysregulation has been proposed. To investigate the possible involvement of transcriptional dysregulation in SCA7 pathology, we analyzed the effects of both wild-type and expanded ataxin-7 on transcription driven by the co-activator CBP, the Purkinje cell-expressed nuclear receptor RORα1 or a basic TATA promoter. As previously shown for other polyglutamine disease proteins, expansion of the polyglutamine domain in ataxin-7 leads to reduced transcription. Surprisingly, strong repression of CBP-mediated, RORα1-mediated and basal transcription was also observed with wild-type ataxin-7, suggesting that the normal ataxin-7 protein may have a role in transcriptional regulation.
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