
By Anna ShvetsGroundbreaking research by the University of Sydney has identified a new brain protein involved in the development of Parkinson’s disease and a way to modify it, paving the way for future treatments for the disease.With the aim of finding new treatments to slow or stop its progression, the research team has spent more than a decade studying the biological mechanisms underpinning the condition—which is the second most common neurological condition after dementia.In 2017, they identified for the first time the presence of an abnormal form of a protein—called SOD1—in the brains of patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.Normally, the SOD1 protein provides protective benefits to the brain, but in Parkinson’s patients it becomes faulty, causing the protein to clump and damage brain cells.The newest study by the same team, led by Professor Kay Double from the Brain and Mind Centre, was just published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications. It found that targeting the faulty SOD1 protein with a drug treatment using copper improved the motor function in mice.“We hoped that by treating this malfunctioning protein, we might be able to improve the Parkinson-like symptoms in the mice we were treating – but even we were astonished by the success of the intervention,” said Professor Double in a media release.“All the mice we...