A study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital has identified LIPE—a protein involved in regulation of fat—as a therapeutic candidate for Parkinson’s disease (PD), following their previous discovery of Stearoyl-Coenzyme A Desaturase as a therapeutic target.
“Ultimately, we hope this lipid-related target will have promise as a small-molecule therapy for Parkinson’s disease,” said co-author Dr. Saranna Fanning. The researchers found that the LIPE protein, when inhibited, would induce suppression of pathogenic alpha-synuclein (AS) protein activity—a key protein involved in PD.
The team identified LIPE as a target therapeutic as its job was to degrade monounsaturated fat. Once degraded, the fat molecules are packaged into lipid bodies (fatty pockets) inside the cell. Since accumulation of lipid bodies in neurons increased AS protein toxicity, therefore the researchers found that inhibition of LIPE activity also inhibited AS activity….