Parkinson’s
researchers used proteomics to identify Rab proteins as a physiological
substrate of
LRRK2, a Parkinson’s drug target. This finding may accelerate current
research and open
a novel therapeutic avenue. © MPI f. Biochemistry
(January 28, 2016) International
consortium identifies and validates cellular role of priority Parkinson’s
disease drug target, LRRK2 kinase
An international public-private consortium of researchers
led by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has had its work
published in eLife. A team comprising investigators from the Max Planck
Institute of Biochemistry, the University of Dundee, GlaxoSmithKline and MSD,
known as Merck & Co., Inc., in the United States and Canada, has discovered
that the LRRK2 kinase regulates cellular trafficking by deactivating Rab
proteins. This finding illuminates a novel route for therapeutic development
and may accelerate testing of LRRK2 inhibitors as a disease-modifying therapy
for Parkinson’s, the second most common neurodegenerative disease.
An international public-private research consortium has
identified and validated a cellular role of a primary Parkinson’s disease drug
target, the LRRK2 kinase. This important finding, published in the online,
open-access eLife journal, illuminates a novel route for therapeutic
development and intervention testing for Parkinson’s, the second most common
neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s.
A team of investigators from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry,
the University of Dundee, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s
Research (MJFF), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and MSD contributed unique tools and
expertise toward rigorous systematic testing that determined the LRRK2 kinase
regulates cellular trafficking by deactivating certain Rab proteins (3, 8, 10
and 12).