July 20, 2021
K-State biologists find new therapeutic target to neurodegenerative diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease are caused by the accumulation of aberrant deleterious peptide products. Repeat-associated non-AUG, or RAN, translation is one such mechanism to generate these deleterious peptides.
Work by a team of undergraduate students led by K-State professors Ranjit Singh and Katsura Asano shows that a novel translational regulatory protein, 5MP, suppresses RAN translation and thereby inhibits the production of toxic peptides. In collaboration with Peter Todd's lab at the University of Michigan, the researchers used a fly disease model to demonstrate this. These studies make 5MP a potential therapeutic target to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
The team's study, "Human oncoprotein 5MP1 suppresses general and repeat-associated non-AUG translation via eIF3 by a common mechanism," was recently published in Cell Reports.
Participating undergrads are Chelsea Moore, Eric Aube, Sarah Gillaspie, Mackenzie Thornton, Ariana Cecil, Madelyn Hilgers, Azuma Takasu and Izumi Asano. Moore, Aube, Gillaspie, Thornton and Cecil are now doctoral students at the KU School of Medicine. Hilgers and Asano are Doctor of Pharmacy students at the University of Colorado and KU, respectively. Other collaborators are Carlos Escalante at Virginia Commonwealth University and Akira Nakamura at Kumamoto University.
Authors: Chingakham Ranjit Singh, Marry Rebecca Glineburg, Chelsea Moore, Naoki Tani, Rahul Jaiswal, Ye Zou, Eric Aube, Sarah Gillaspie, Mackenzie Thornton, Ariana Cecil, Madelyn Hilgers, Azuma Takasu, Izumi Asano, Masayo Asano, Carlos R. Escalante, Akira Nakamura, Peter Todd and Katsura Asano.
