A research team at the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (UBneuro) has led a study describing a new molecular mechanism that affects RNA processing and alters the process of protein synthesis in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The study, which has been carried out in post-mortem samples of patients and in animal models of the disease, will boost the design of future therapies to address the treatment of this dementia and other neurological disorders.
Cristina Malagelada, who led the study, and Genís Campoy-Campos, its first author, have published the paper in Nucleic Acids Research . Malagelada is a professor at the UB's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the UBneuro and, together with Campoy-Campos, are members of the Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).
A new function for the RTP801 protein
Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia and causes a gradual decline in cognition, memory and language skills, as well as emotional and psychiatric disorders. It is characterized by the accumulation of β-amyloid plaques outside neurons and hyperphosphorylated tau protein inside neurons, which alter brain function and cause cell death.
