News
Research plan by Neuroscience Campus professor Peter Heutink c.s. defined on basis of automated cell-culture and drugsscreening analysis wins Prinses Beatrix Fonds Science award of 1 M€.
At the time of the award last saturday (28 Nov 2009 in the RAI) Peter Heutink announced that the research grant will be applied to Parkinson in collaboration with Guus Smit and Kawan Li
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease with a prevalence of 2% among the elderly in western societies. Defining characteristics of the disease include degeneration of dopamine neurons and depigmentation of the substantia nigra. The disease is further characterized by the presence of cytoplasmatic inclusions called Lewy Bodies consisting for a large part of α-synuclein. Several genes involved in familial PD have been identified and functional studies on these genes have contributed to a better understanding of the biological processes involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
It is assumed that in most cases, PD is caused by an interaction of multiple genetic susceptibilities and environmental factors on the background of an ageing brain. Evidence is rapidly accumulating that genetic risk factors are indeed of major importance in the sporadic form of the disease, while evidence for environmental causes is still sparse despite decades of epidemiologic research.
Current evidence obtained through genetic, cell biological and animal model studies suggests that mitochondrial complex I inhibition plays an important role in PD and in addition impairments in protein handling and detoxification can lead to the death of dopamine neurons. Although available treatments for PD temporarily reduce symptoms, none of the current treatments stops or slows down the disease process. Therefore new and more effective therapeutic approaches are needed. However, the translation of the currently identified genetic risk factors into successful therapeutic approaches has been slow possibly because these genes are often not the most suitable targets for drug design.
The group of Heutink with support of the Prinses Beatrix Science Award in coming year will identify new genetic risk-factors for both Mendelian and multifactorial forms of PD and use these, and known risk factors, for the development of new therapeutic approaches. Heutink will use a multidisciplinary approach to confirm and characterize the biological relevance of risk factors and to identify all functionally interacting genes in the affected pathway by using a high throughput cell biology (cellomics) approach. The characterization of gene networks instead of single genes will help to identify those genes in the affected gene network that can best serve as lead targets for development of new therapeutic approaches. As Heutink claimed last Saturday: "This price is a fantastic boost for the Drugs Screening and Therapy research program of the Neuroscience Campus. I am very happy with this award and with the funding for our cellomics research activities".
See also interview with Peter Heutink: here
