LSU Health Discovery May Open New Therapeutic Avenues for Degenerative Diseases of the Brain and Eye
Scientists at LSU Health New Orleans’ Neuroscience Center of Excellence have identified a new mechanism that regulates a protein key for cell survival. It appears to protect against the excessive oxidative stress that precedes the development of neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and eye, according to an LSU Health article.
Results are published in the Nature journal, Cell Death & Disease, available here.
“This discovery goes beyond the commonly studied transcriptional modulation, suggesting its impact on protection against oxidative stress-related diseases and extension of lifespan,” said Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director, and the Ernest C. and Yvette C. Villere Chair for Retinal Degenerations and Bollinger Family Professor in Alzheimer’s Disease. “We found that Elovanoid-34 modulates the activity of the protein, TXNRD1, which is central to the initiation cascade of oxidative stress.”