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New discovery offers potential treatments for aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases like MND
The new "toolkit" discovered by scientists at the University of Sheffield and Oxford can repair DNA damage, potentially opening up new treatments for aging, cancer, and neurological diseases such as motor neuron disease (MND). The Nature Communications report focuses on the role of TEX264 as a protein that works with several other enzymes to identify and remove toxic proteins binding to DNA that cause damage.
DNA damage, which is usually brought on by the collection of toxic proteins, is linked with a broad variety of diseases and conditions, including accelerated aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases such as MND. In repair mechanisms relating to DNA damage, not much is known up to this day. This new discovery could unlock the key to effective treatments and therapies.
The protein TEX264 is part of a cellular "cleanup crew" that removes harmful proteins that can thwart DNA repair. In doing so, TEX264 should prevent DNA damage that otherwise would interfere with DNA integrity and help to protect cells from the ravages of aging, cancer, and neurological disease.
"Failure to fix DNA breaks can significantly impact our ability to age healthily and increase vulnerability to diseases like MND," said Professor Sherif El-Khamisy, Co-Founder and Deputy Director of the Healthy Lifespan Institute at the University of Sheffield. "We hope that understanding how our cells repair DNA can lead to better treatments for these diseases and even offer new ways of addressing cancer."
The finding also has optimistic prospects to develop new treatments for cancer. Chemotherapy frequently introduces DNA breaks to kill off cancerous cells; however, this new protein TEX264 may represent a new means of attacking the cancer in a more targeted method.
According to a statement by Professor Kristijan Ramadan from the University of Oxford and co-leader of the study, "This discovery revolutionizes our understanding of DNA repair and opens up new possibilities for cancer therapy."
Researchers are already investigating further to understand better how this repair process could be exploited as a prospect for future therapies both in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
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