LEICESTER: Two enzymes that play an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration, and whose inhibition was seen to improve disease symptoms in fruit fly models, have been identified. Moreover, inhibition of one of these enzymes with a drug-like compound was found to reverse movement defects in the flies characteristic of diseases like Parkinson’s.
The study, by researchers at University of Leicester and University of Maryland School of Medicine, is titled “Tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) inhibition ameliorates neurodegeneration by modulation of kynurenine pathway metabolites”.
“The two most common neurodegenerative disorders worldwide are Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The treatment options for these diseases are limited, and to date no cures exist. Our hope is that by improving our knowledge of how these nerve cells become sick and die in the brain, we can help devise ways to interfere with these processes, and thereby either delay disease onset or prevent disease altogether,” Flaviano Giorgini, the study’s senior author and a professor in the Department of Genetics at Leicester.