ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) — A research report featured on the cover of the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal describes how Australian scientists developed a new gene therapy vector that uses the same machinery that viruses use to transport their cargo into our cells. As a result of this achievement, therapeutic DNA can be transferred to a cell's nucleus far more efficiently than in the past, raising hopes for more effective treatment of genetic disorders and some types of cancers. Read more ....
Original scientific source: Multifunctional protein nanocarriers for targeted nuclear gene delivery in nondividing cells. Dominic J. Glover, Su May Ng, Adam Mechler, Lisandra L. Martin, and David A. Jans
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Nicotinic receptors: allosteric transitions and therapeutic targets in the nervous system
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 8, 733-750 (September 2009) doi:10.1038/nrd2927
Antoine Taly1, Pierre-Jean Corringer2, Denis Guedin3, Pierre Lestage3 & Jean-Pierre Changeux
Laboratoire de Chimie Biophysique, Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, UMR 7006 (CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France. Email: a.taly@isis.u-strasbg.fr
Channel Receptors, CNRS URA 2182, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015 Paris, France. Email: pjcorrin@pasteur.fr
Institut de Recherches Servier, 125 Chemin de Ronde, 78290 Croissy-sur-Seine. Email: denis.guedin@fr.netgrs.com; Email: pierre.lestage@fr.netgrs.com
CNRS URA 2182, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015 Paris, France. Email: changeux@pasteur.fr
Highlight: "Varenicline (Chantix or Champix) is a nicotinic receptor partial agonist"
Antoine Taly1, Pierre-Jean Corringer2, Denis Guedin3, Pierre Lestage3 & Jean-Pierre Changeux
Laboratoire de Chimie Biophysique, Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, UMR 7006 (CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), 8 Allée Gaspard Monge, 67000 Strasbourg, France. Email: a.taly@isis.u-strasbg.fr
Channel Receptors, CNRS URA 2182, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015 Paris, France. Email: pjcorrin@pasteur.fr
Institut de Recherches Servier, 125 Chemin de Ronde, 78290 Croissy-sur-Seine. Email: denis.guedin@fr.netgrs.com; Email: pierre.lestage@fr.netgrs.com
CNRS URA 2182, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015 Paris, France. Email: changeux@pasteur.fr
Highlight: "Varenicline (Chantix or Champix) is a nicotinic receptor partial agonist"
Monday, August 31, 2009
Excess iron and Friedreich’s ataxia
LifeScientist
Graeme O'Neill 28/08/2008 13:40:00
While Friedreich’s ataxia is a rare disorder, tracking down the role of the protein implicated in the disease has opened up new therapeutic potentials.
Keywords: free radicals, Friedreich's ataxia, Martin Delatycki, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, iron chelators, Australia, antioxidants, clinical trials, Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Association (Australasia).
Graeme O'Neill 28/08/2008 13:40:00
While Friedreich’s ataxia is a rare disorder, tracking down the role of the protein implicated in the disease has opened up new therapeutic potentials.
Keywords: free radicals, Friedreich's ataxia, Martin Delatycki, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, iron chelators, Australia, antioxidants, clinical trials, Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Association (Australasia).
What Is Ataxia? What Causes Ataxia?
Article Date: 31 Aug 2009 - 0:00 PDT
Medical News Today .
Journalistic article written by Christian Nordqvist, make a simple revision of the ataxias, but fine.
Medical News Today .
Journalistic article written by Christian Nordqvist, make a simple revision of the ataxias, but fine.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
MRI methods can show bone marrow stem cells’ viability as brain-repairing therapy
Stem Cell Research Blog, 20 Aug 2009
WASHINGTON - Researchers at Tel Aviv University have offered new hope for people with incurable neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s by showing that the viability of stem cells created from a patient’s own bone marrow can be determined using MRI tracking methods.
WASHINGTON - Researchers at Tel Aviv University have offered new hope for people with incurable neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s by showing that the viability of stem cells created from a patient’s own bone marrow can be determined using MRI tracking methods.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The role of iron in mitochondrial function.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Jul;1790(7):629-36. Epub 2008 Oct 7.
Levi S, Rovida E.Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Via Olgettina 58, 20132, Milano, Italy. levi.sonia@hsr.it
Levi S, Rovida E.Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Via Olgettina 58, 20132, Milano, Italy. levi.sonia@hsr.it
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Limitations in a frataxin knockdown cell model for Friedreich ataxia in a high-throughput drug screen
OPEN ACCESS
Nadege Calmels , Herve Seznec , Pascal Villa , Laurence Reutenauer , Marcel Hibert , Jacques Haiech , Pierre Rustin , Michel Koenig and Helene Puccio
BMC Neurology 2009, 9:46doi:10.1186/1471-2377-9-46
Published:
24 August 2009
Abstract (provisional)
Pharmacological high-throughput screening (HTS) represents a powerful strategy for drug discovery in genetic diseases, particularly when the full spectrum of pathological dysfunctions remains unclear, such as in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA). FRDA, the most common recessive ataxia, results from a generalized deficiency of mitochondrial and cytosolic iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) proteins activity, due to a partial loss of frataxin function, a mitochondrial protein proposed to function as an iron-chaperone for ISC biosynthesis. In the absence of measurable catalytic function for frataxin, a cell-based assay is required for HTS assay.
Methods
Using a targeted ribozyme strategy in murine fibroblasts, we have developed a cellular model with strongly reduced levels of frataxin. We have used this model to screen the Prestwick Chemical Library, a collection of one thousand off-patent drugs, for potential molecules for FRDA.
Results
The frataxin deficient cell lines exhibit a proliferation defect, associated with an ISC enzyme deficit. Using the growth defect as end-point criteria, we screened the Prestwick Chemical Library. However no molecule presented a significant and reproducible effect on the proliferation rate of frataxin deficient cells. Moreover over numerous passages, the antisense ribozyme fibroblast cell lines revealed an increase in frataxin residual level associated with the normalization of ISC enzyme activities. However, the ribozyme cell lines and FRDA patient cells presented an increase in Mthfd2 transcript, a mitochondrial enzyme that was previously shown to be upregulated at very early stages of the pathogenesis in the cardiac mouse model.
Conclusions
Although no active hit has been identified, the present study demonstrates the feasibility of using a cell-based approach to HTS for FRDA. Furthermore, it highlights the difficulty in the development of a stable frataxin-deficient cell model, an essential condition for productive HTS in the future.
FULL TEXT: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2377-9-46.pdf
Nadege Calmels , Herve Seznec , Pascal Villa , Laurence Reutenauer , Marcel Hibert , Jacques Haiech , Pierre Rustin , Michel Koenig and Helene Puccio
BMC Neurology 2009, 9:46doi:10.1186/1471-2377-9-46
Published:
24 August 2009
Abstract (provisional)
Pharmacological high-throughput screening (HTS) represents a powerful strategy for drug discovery in genetic diseases, particularly when the full spectrum of pathological dysfunctions remains unclear, such as in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA). FRDA, the most common recessive ataxia, results from a generalized deficiency of mitochondrial and cytosolic iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) proteins activity, due to a partial loss of frataxin function, a mitochondrial protein proposed to function as an iron-chaperone for ISC biosynthesis. In the absence of measurable catalytic function for frataxin, a cell-based assay is required for HTS assay.
Methods
Using a targeted ribozyme strategy in murine fibroblasts, we have developed a cellular model with strongly reduced levels of frataxin. We have used this model to screen the Prestwick Chemical Library, a collection of one thousand off-patent drugs, for potential molecules for FRDA.
Results
The frataxin deficient cell lines exhibit a proliferation defect, associated with an ISC enzyme deficit. Using the growth defect as end-point criteria, we screened the Prestwick Chemical Library. However no molecule presented a significant and reproducible effect on the proliferation rate of frataxin deficient cells. Moreover over numerous passages, the antisense ribozyme fibroblast cell lines revealed an increase in frataxin residual level associated with the normalization of ISC enzyme activities. However, the ribozyme cell lines and FRDA patient cells presented an increase in Mthfd2 transcript, a mitochondrial enzyme that was previously shown to be upregulated at very early stages of the pathogenesis in the cardiac mouse model.
Conclusions
Although no active hit has been identified, the present study demonstrates the feasibility of using a cell-based approach to HTS for FRDA. Furthermore, it highlights the difficulty in the development of a stable frataxin-deficient cell model, an essential condition for productive HTS in the future.
FULL TEXT: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2377-9-46.pdf
M.P.1.02 SNT-MC17/idebenone in the treatment of Friedreich’s ataxia: Preliminary safety data from a 12-month European randomized, placebo-controlled s
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T9T-4WWHRS8-F&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0027bdaeef768126216c15a42f58f113
M.P.1.02 SNT-MC17/idebenone in the treatment of Friedreich’s ataxia: Preliminary safety data from a 12-month European randomized, placebo-controlled study
J.B. Schulz1, T. Meier2 and G.L. Holder2
1University Medical Center, RWTH Aachen, Department of Neurology, Aachen, Germany
2Santhera Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) Ltd., Liestal, Switzerland
M.P.1.02 SNT-MC17/idebenone in the treatment of Friedreich’s ataxia: Preliminary safety data from a 12-month European randomized, placebo-controlled study
J.B. Schulz1, T. Meier2 and G.L. Holder2
1University Medical Center, RWTH Aachen, Department of Neurology, Aachen, Germany
2Santhera Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) Ltd., Liestal, Switzerland
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Frataxin deficiency induces schwann cell inflammation and death.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Aug 10
Lu C, Schoenfeld R, Shan Y, Tsai C, Hammock B, Cortopassi G.
Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, California, 95616.
Lu C, Schoenfeld R, Shan Y, Tsai C, Hammock B, Cortopassi G.
Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California, Davis, California, 95616.
The Interaction of Mitochondrial Iron with Manganese Superoxide Dismutase*
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 284, Issue 34, 22633-22640, August 21, 2009
Amornrat Naranuntarat
1 , Laran T. Jensen , Samuel Pazicni
, James E. Penner-Hahn , and Valeria C. Culotta2
12 From the From the
Keywords: Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), mitochondrial enzymes, manganese, iron, iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis, Isu proteins.
Related Topic:
"Manganese Is the Link between Frataxin and Iron-Sulfur Deficiency in the Yeast Model of Friedreich Ataxia",
Verónica Irazusta, Elisa Cabiscol, Gemma Reverter-Branchat, ,Joaquim Ros2 , and Jordi Tamarit
"Manganese Is the Link between Frataxin and Iron-Sulfur Deficiency in the Yeast Model of Friedreich Ataxia",
Verónica Irazusta, Elisa Cabiscol, Gemma Reverter-Branchat, ,
From the Grup de Bioquímica de l'Estrés Oxidatiu, Departament de Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Lleida, 25008 Lleida, Spai.
J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 18, 12227-12232, May 5, 2006
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