Prof. Neville Vassallo is leading cutting-edge research at the Department of Physiology & Biochemistry and the Centre for Molecular Medicine & Bio-banking, University of Malta, into the molecular underpinnings of brain neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). His team, together with Dr. Ruben Cauchi also at the Department of Physiology & Biochemistry, has recently published two key papers that shed new mechanistic insights on the process of neurodegeneration in these diseases.
In their work, Vassallo and co-workers have studied the consequences of exposing mitochondria organelles, the energy powerhouses of nerve cells, to pathological aggregates of the α-synuclein (αS) and tau proteins, which form deposits in the brains of individuals with AD and PD. Essentially, they find that both αS and tau protein aggregates can drill nano-sized holes in the membranes of mitochondria, leading to extensive mitochondrial damage. Importantly, the membrane-activity of αS and tau oligomers is linked to the presence of cardiolipin, a signature phospholipid of mitochondrial membranes which plays a fundamental role in mitochondrial bio-energetics.
Furthermore, in collaboration with research groups at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, the UM scientists demonstrate that mitochondrial damage can be potently inhibited by anti-aggregator compounds like the diphenylpyrazole compound anle138b, which is currently undergoing clinical trials for therapy of neurodegenerative diseases. These results are therefore of great significance to developing effective cures for AD and PD.
The research was funded by grants from the Malta Council for Science & Technology R&I programme (R&I-2012-066), the University of Malta, and the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery.
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Authors: Ghio, Stephanie; Camilleri, Angelique; Caruana, Mario; Ruf, Viktoria; Schmidt, Felix; Leonov, Andrei; Ryazanov, Sergey; Griesinger, Christian; Cauchi, Ruben; Kamp, Frits; Giese, Armin; Vassallo, Neville
Journal: ACS Chemical Neuroscience
ACS Chemical Neuroscience is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society. It publishes high-quality research articles that showcase chemical, quantitative biological, biophysical and bioengineering approaches to the understanding of the nervous system and to the development of new treatments for neurological disorders.
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Authors: Camilleri, Angelique; Ghio, Stephanie; Caruana, Mario; Weckbecker, Daniel; Schmidt, Felix; Kamp, Frits; Leonov, Andrei; Ryazanov, Sergey; Griesinger, Christian; Giese, Armin; Cauchi, Ruben; Vassallo, Neville
Journal: Biochimica Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes
BBA-Biomembranes is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier that has its main focus on membrane structure, channels, fluidity, composition and dynamics. It was selected by the National Library of Medicine of the USA as one of the '100 most influential journals in Biology and Medicine in the past 100 years.'
