Chaperones News and Research

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Experimental drug reverses key symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mice

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have designed an experimental drug that reversed key symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in mice.

22 Apr 2021

Chaperone protein imbalance can play key role in initiating toxic tau buildup in the aging brain

Chaperone protein imbalance can play a significant role in initiating toxic accumulation of tau in the aging brain - an early step in the development of Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders known as tauopathies, a new preclinical study by University of South Florida Health (USF Health) neuroscientists suggests.

20 Apr 2021

DNAJC9 protein plays a key role in safeguarding histones, shows study

In the cell nucleus histones play a crucial role packaging DNA into chromatin. Histones are however very sticky to both DNA and RNA, so to ensure they are transported to the cell nucleus after synthesis and bind to the right portion of DNA to organize the chromatin, they are guarded by complexes of histone chaperones.

15 Apr 2021

Researchers develop model for SARS-CoV-2 fusion intermediate that helps membrane fusion

The spike protein is the main part of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for the infection. It consists of two subunits S1 and S2. Upon entry of the virus into the human body, the S1 subunit helps the virus bind to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors on host cells.

13 Apr 2021

Compound isolated from Moroccan fungus shows promise to fight triple negative breast cancer

A compound isolated from a fungus growing on the roots of a flowering plant in Morocco shows promise as a powerful opponent of aggressive triple negative breast cancer, scientists say.

4 Mar 2021

Smoking cessation drug shows potential to treat Parkinson's disease in females

Texas A&M University College of Medicine ressearchers have recently discovered that cytisine -- a smoking cessation drug commonly used in Europe -- reduces the loss of dopamine neurons in females. These findings provide potential evidence for the use of the drug to treat Parkinson's disease or stop its progression in women.

4 Mar 2021

Research provides insight into protein structures that could treat Huntington’s disease

In Huntington's disease, a faulty protein aggregates in brain cells and eventually kills them. Such protein aggregates could, in principle, be prevented with a heat shock protein. However, it is not well known how these proteins interact with the Huntington's disease protein.

12 Feb 2021

Biologists investigate how molecular chaperones dissolve protein aggregates linked to Parkinson's

In many neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, protein aggregates form in the brain and are assumed to contribute to neuronal cell death.

11 Nov 2020

Experimental cancer drug AR-12 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virus

Nine months into the global pandemic, which has infected more than 32 million people, there is still no approved effective and safe drug or vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

24 Sep 2020

Research shows how a protein's small change leads to big trouble for cells

In molecular biology, chaperones are a class of proteins that help regulate how other proteins fold. Folding is an important step in the manufacturing process for proteins. When they don't fold the way they're supposed to, it can lead to the development of diseases such as cancer.

30 Jun 2020

Study finds entry point for curbing the evolution of antibiotic resistance

The team of Professor Tobias Bollenbach from the Institute for Biological Physics at the University of Cologne has published a study on a new approach to improving the effectiveness of antibiotics in bacterial infections.

24 Jun 2020

Scientists discover unexpected role of heat shock proteins during neuronal differentiation

A research team led by Dr Chaogu Zheng from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, in collaboration with a team led by Professor Martin Chalfie (2008 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) from the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, recently discovered an unexpected role of the heat shock proteins, also known as the molecular chaperones, during neuronal differentiation, which refers to the process a neuron takes to acquire its shape and function.

16 Jun 2020

Researchers identify a natural amino acid as potential treatment for polyQ diseases

Familial spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), Huntington disease, and spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy are inherited neurodegenerative diseases.

25 May 2020

Research demonstrates self-synthesis and assembly of 30S subunit of ribosome

As the cell's protein factory, the ribosome is the only natural machine that manufactures its own parts. That is why understanding how the machine, itself, is made, could unlock the door to everything from understanding how life develops to designing new methods of drug production.

21 May 2020

A new treatment option for activating cellular defenses against neurodegenerative disease

Talk about motherly instincts: Biologists at the University of Iowa have learned that female roundworms can alert their future offspring of dangers they will encounter when born, and the mothers pass on these warnings even before the offspring have been conceived.

19 May 2020

New breakthrough may help cure prion disease

A molecular biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has for decades studied the nightmarish group of fatal diseases caused by prions - chronic wasting disease in deer, mad cow in cattle and its human analog - credits a middle-of-the-night dream for a crucial insight, a breakthrough she hopes could lead to a cure.

6 May 2020

Meis1 protein plays key role in stopping cell division in the heart

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have discovered a protein that works with others during development to put the brakes on cell division in the heart, they report today in Nature.

23 Apr 2020

New high-throughput approach yields libraries of probes for immunological assays

An immunological test known as a "tetramer assay" can detect T cells in a blood sample that recognize a specific antigen.

20 Apr 2020

'Chaperone protein' protects against autoimmune diseases, mice study shows

Like a parent of teenagers at a party, Mother Nature depends on chaperones to keep one of her charges, the immune system, in line so that it doesn't mistakenly attack normal cells, tissues and organs in our bodies.

15 Apr 2020

Alzheimer's and its helper protein

It is commonly observed that the brain in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) often contains fibrils of tau protein, which build up within the brain neurons to interrupt proper communication between them. However, it is far from clear what these deposits mean and how they form.

15 Mar 2020