Researchers funded by Merck & Co/Johnson & Johnson identify potential new drug for neurodegenerative disease

Scientists have discovered a small molecule that helps human cells get rid of the misfolded, disfigured proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative ailments. This potential drug could have applications for other conditions as well.

This research, reported in the journal Nature (volume 467, issue 7312), was funded by the USA’s National Institutes of Health, the Harvard Technology Development Accelerator Fund and two US drug majors, Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

Cells create and discard proteins continuously, a process that relies on a balance between the speed with which new proteins are created and damaged ones destroyed. Protein destruction occurs through a sophisticated system that marks proteins for disposal by tagging them with a small molecule called ubiquitin. Ubiquitin latches onto these proteins, often forming long chains. The cell¹s protein waste-disposal system, the proteasome, recognizes these ubiquitinated proteins and breaks them down.