Nerve Cell Discovery = Good News

[Guest guest]

(Maybe some of this discovery will help us with CMT. The article does

mention this could lead the way for neurological diseases ~

G)

Source:

Massachusetts General Hospital (http://www.massgeneral.org/)

Date:Posted 9/26/2002

Gene Found That Helps Nerve Cells Survive By Preventing Cell Suicide

BOSTON - September 25, 2002 - Why do some nerve cells survive and regrow

after injury while others shrink away and die? A new discovery by

researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) shows that the

expression of a particular gene may be responsible for protecting

neurons from death. The results, published in the September 26 issue of

Neuron, could lead the way for new treatment strategies for a variety of

neurological diseases.

" Turning on the gene named Hsp27 could potentially rescue nerve cells in

patients with neurodegenerative conditions such as Lou Gehrig's

disease, " says principal investigator Clifford Woolf, MD, PhD, of the

Neural Plasticity Research Group in the

Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at MGH.

Woolf and his colleagues found that young sensory and motor nerve cells

die after injury because the heat shock protein 27 gene (Hsp27) is not

turned on in these cells. In adult cells however, the gene is expressed.

The resulting protein that is produced protects these mature nerve cells

from death following an injury.

" As part of normal development, many more neurons are made than are

needed, " says Woolf, who also is J. Kitz Professor of Anesthesia

Research at Harvard Medical School. " So some must be pruned away by

essentially committing cell suicide,

a phenomenon known as programmed cell death. It seems that Hsp27 is

turned off to allow for this normal developmental process. "

Woolf explains that once an individual reaches adulthood, nerve cells in

the body are permanent and irreplaceable. " That's why it's important to

have a repair mechanism for older neurons, " he says. The protein made by

the Hsp27 gene blocks cell suicide from

taking place following injury, rescuing injured cells. For example,

cells expressing the Hsp27 protein acquire resistance to excessive heat,

chemical stress, and toxins. Hsp27 directly inhibits the cellular

proteins that trigger programmed cell death.

In laboratory dishes and in rat models, Woolf and his team showed that,

if the Hsp27 gene is delivered to young nerve cells using gene therapy

with viral vectors, the cells are able to survive injury just as well as

older nerve cells. Equally, if the gene is switched off in adults, those

cells will die. " Hopefully, therapy that prevents cell death by

delivering genes like Hsp27 will someday find its way into the clinic, "

says Woolf. " Patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, for example, suffer a

progressive death of their motor neurons leading to paralysis. If Hsp27

were able to

prevent the death of the neurons in these patients, it would offer the

possibility of new therapy, something we plan to test "

The other members of the MGH research team are na Benn, Ph.D, first

author, Joachim Scholz, MD, and Mannion, MD, PhD - all of the

MGH Neural Plasticity Research Group - and Joanna Bakowska, DVM, PhD, of

the Molecular Neurogenetics Unit at MGH. The study was supported by

grants from the National Institutes of Health and the von

Humboldt Foundation.

Massachusetts General Hospital, established in 1811, is the original and

largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts

the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with

an annual research budget of more than $300 million and major research

centers in AIDS, cardiovascular

research, cancer, cutaneous biology, transplantation biology and

photomedicine.

In 1994, the MGH joined with Brigham and Women's Hospital to form

Partners HealthCare System, an integrated health care delivery system

comprising the two academic medical centers, specialty and community

hospitals, a network of physician groups

and nonacute and home health services.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found at

http://www.massgeneral.org/news/releases/092502woolfbenn.htm

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by

Massachusetts

General Hospital for journalists and other members of the public. If you

wish to

quote from any part of this story, please credit Massachusetts General

Hospital

as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link

in any

citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/09/020926065340.htm