Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Researchers draft 3-D Protein map to aid
Stroke, Cancer Research
Newswise — A new three-dimensional computer
protein map is helping researchers at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
unravel the biological pathways that control
brain-cell death after a stroke.
The new map will help identify new drug
targets and test compounds to slow
brain-cell death, halt brain cancer and
improve pain control, the study authors
said. The findings are published online in
the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Starting with known cell coordinates,
biological structures and other data, UAB
researchers focused on a protein called
acid-sensing ion channel-1, or ASIC-1.
This protein acts as a gateway on the
surface of brain cells called neurons.
The researchers generated a 3-D computer map
of ASIC-1, which greatly simplifies the
testing of any drug or compound designed to
protect neurons, regulate their molecular
interactions or isolate brain tumors.
“This protein ASIC-1 has a lot of little
nooks and crevices where other molecules can
sit and interact with the channel,” said
Yawar Qadri, a graduate student in the UAB
Department of Physiology and Biophysics and
the study’s lead author.
“With the map we’ve generated and the area
we’ve described, researchers can fine-tune
their ideas and tailor experimental
compounds.”
Dale Benos, Ph.D., chair of the Department
of Physiology and Biophysics and a co-author
on the study, said the ASIC-1 map is an
invaluable tool in the ongoing search for
new drugs that will specifically act on this
biological pathway.
“The hope is that when a person has a stroke
or they get diagnosed with a brain tumor,
the patient can be given a drug that will
keep his or her neurons alive and
functioning longer, or we can keep cancer
from migrating further,” Benos said.
The study began with a toxin found only in
the venom of the Trinidad chevron tarantula.
In earlier laboratory research, this venom
toxin proved capable of slowing neuronal
death, inhibiting cancer growth and
improving other biological disorders.
UAB researchers wanted to simplify the
search for non-venom agents that interact
with ASIC-1 for positive results.
Qadri and his UAB colleagues generated the
map of ASIC-1 with a software program called
Modeller, developed by engineers at the
University of California, San Francisco. The
UAB ASIC-l map study includes validation
work confirming its accuracy.
... ..
...
...