Protein aggregates in cytoplasm interfere with important transport routes
In the brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases, medical researchers can observe protein deposits, also called aggregates. For many years, these aggregates have been suspected to contribute to the death of nerve cells, and to diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or Huntington's. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, led by Mark Hipp and Ulrich Hartl, have now shown that the location of protein aggregates strongly influences the survival of cells. While aggregates within the nucleus barely influence cellular function, deposits of identical proteins within the cytoplasm interfere with important transport routes between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. This results in a blockage of protein and RNA transport into and out of the nucleus. In the long run this can lead to the death of the affected cells, and progression of the disease. The results of these studies have now been published in the journal Science.