Scientists at UC San Diego and the University of Pittsburgh discover pyrvinium pamoate's potential to rejuvenate cellular structures in neurons.
Scientists at UC San Diego and the University of Pittsburgh discover pyrvinium pamoate's potential to rejuvenate cellular structures in neurons.
Researchers at University of California San Diego and the University of Pittsburgh have found that using an existing drug to target nuclear speckles — structures within cell nuclei that regulate proper protein production, folding and degradation — could offer a completely new approach for treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could also have implications for other diseases involving misfolded proteins, such as prion diseases and retinitis pigmentosa.
While researchers from Pitt led the effort to identify the drug — an existing pinworm treatment called pyrvinium pamoate — and demonstrated its initial potential for targeting nuclear speckles in a petri dish, UC San Diego researchers helped test it in living models of neurodegenerative diseases. Xu Chen, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine, was instrumental to this effort.
“These are some of the most promising results I’ve seen in my whole career,” said Chen, whose research focuses on tauopathies, diseases driven by the buildup of tau protein in the brain. These diseases include Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia.
Read More: University of California – San Diego
Image: research from UC San Diego and University of Pittsburgh, these nuclear speckles could be a promising target for future Alzheimer's therapies. Photo credit: Bokai Zhu via University of California – San Diego
