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Researchers explore novel Protein as
Potential Target in Alzheimer's Treatment
Newswise, July 2010 — A South Dakota State
University researcher and his colleagues
elsewhere have discovered a previously
unreported mitochondrial protein that
interacts with a protein known to play a
role in Alzheimer’s disease.
The discovery adds to what is known about
the memory-inhibiting disease as researchers
continue to search for ways to treat it.
The research is reported in June 2010 in the European
Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol. 31. Assistant professor Hemachand
Tummala in SDSU’s Department of
Pharmaceutical Sciences is the lead author
of the journal article, which builds on work
he carried out while at the University of
Memphis.
His co-authors are Xiaofan Li of the Mayo
School of Graduate Medical Education and the
University of Tennessee Health Science
Center; and Ramin Homayouni of the
University of Memphis and the University of
Tennessee Health Science Center.
Alzheimer’s disease affected 5.5 million
Americans in 2009 alone.
With a rapidly aging baby boomer population,
this number is predicted to reach 16 million
by 2050. Besides patient distress,
Alzheimer’s disease also inflicts health
care costs to society of $172 billion
annually. Currently, Alzheimer’s disease has
no cure.
“In Alzheimer’s disease, there is a protein
involved called APP, Amyloid precursor
protein. If this protein is mutated, it
causes early onset Alzheimer’s disease. We
don’t know exactly what this protein does,”
Tummala said.
“One thing is very well documented in
Alzheimer’s disease, mitochondria in a cell
are damaged. They lose their function. This
happens long before the appearance of
symptoms. So there is a theory that
mitochondria play a big role in the disease
progression.”
Mitochondria are membrane-enclosed
structures in cells that generate the cell’s
supply of energy and are involved in
processes such as signaling, cell death,
cell growth, and possibly aging.
Neurons are special cells in the brain that
help the body to carry out functions
associated with hearing, seeing, moving,
remembering information and learning new
things. In Alzheimer’s disease neurons that
function in learning and memory die. That’s
why Alzheimer’s disease symptoms include
memory loss and the other behavioral
cognitive problems.
Tummala said he and his colleagues’
important finding shows that APP binds to
the mitochondrial protein, NIPSNAP1.
NIPSNAP1 is specifically seen in neurons,
and it may have a role in neuronal death in
Alzheimer’s disease.
“Taken together, our data suggest that APP
directly interacts with the neuron-specific
mitochondrial protein NIPSNAP1 and may
thereby regulate mitochondrial function in
neurons,” the scientists note in their
journal article.
Tummala said his next step, working with his
University of Memphis colleague, Dr. Ramin
Homayouni, will be a closer examination of
NIPSNAP1 using mouse models. Tummala already
has won a grant of $96,926 through South
Dakota’s 2010 Competitive Research Grant
Program, accompanied by an SDSU match of
$98,978. The grant will help fund his work
learning more about the protein as a
potential drug target for treating
Alzheimer’s disease.
“This is still at the preliminary stages. If
everything goes well, if we establish the
link, this may in the future become a new
therapeutic target,” Tummala said.
“Our hypothesis is that mitochondria are
damaged long before the appearance of
symptoms. If you could stop that
mitochondrial damage, it may slow down
neuronal death and halt the disease
progression. But that would be far in the
future, not now.”
About South Dakota State University
Founded in 1881, South Dakota State
University is the state’s Morrill Act
land-grant institution as well as its
largest, most comprehensive school of higher
education. SDSU confers degrees from seven
different colleges representing more than
200 majors, minors and options. The
institution also offers 23 master’s degree
programs and 12 Ph.D. programs.
The work of the university is carried out on
a residential campus in Brookings, at sites
in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and
through Cooperative Extension offices and
Agricultural Experiment Station research
sites across the state.
