Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia—two progressive and currently incurable diseases—may soon receive a one-two punch, thanks to the caffeine in coffee along with another compound found in the waxy coating of coffee beans.

Rutgers University scientists, who detailed their discovery in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe the combination of the two compounds has the potential to become a therapeutic option to slow brain degeneration. Lead author M. Maral Mouradian, director of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Institute for Neurological Therapeutics, says the research began by examining “a protein called alpha-synuclein, which accumulates as abnormal aggregates in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB).”

The form that aggregates, explains Mouradian, is modified by a process called phosphorylation, which adds a phosphate group to the protein. “This addition,” she says, “accelerates the tendency of alpha-synuclein to mis-fold and aggregate. Therefore, our goal has been to minimize the degree of alpha-synuclein phosphorylation.” Mouradian and her fellow researchers focused on the catalyst (enzyme) that removes the phosphate group (phosphatase) and identified the specific isoform (form) of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).

https://eu.echemi.com/info/coffee-compounds-join-forces-to-fight-parkinson-s_116916.html

Coffee compounds join forces to fight Parkinson's

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Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia—two progressive and currently incurable diseases—may soon receive a one-two punch, thanks to the caffeine in coffee along with another compound found in the waxy coating of coffee beans.

Rutgers University scientists, who detailed their discovery in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, believe the combination of the two compounds has the potential to become a therapeutic option to slow brain degeneration. Lead author M. Maral Mouradian, director of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Institute for Neurological Therapeutics, says the research began by examining “a protein called alpha-synuclein, which accumulates as abnormal aggregates in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB).”

The form that aggregates, explains Mouradian, is modified by a process called phosphorylation, which adds a phosphate group to the protein. “This addition,” she says, “accelerates the tendency of alpha-synuclein to mis-fold and aggregate. Therefore, our goal has been to minimize the degree of alpha-synuclein phosphorylation.” Mouradian and her fellow researchers focused on the catalyst (enzyme) that removes the phosphate group (phosphatase) and identified the specific isoform (form) of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).

https://eu.echemi.com/info/coffee-compounds-join-forces-to-fight-parkinson-s_116916.html

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