Story ideas from Molecular & Cellular ...( Articles selected from the October 2...)

Articles selected from the October 2007 issue of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (Vol. 6, No. 10):

• Preventing neurodegenerative diseases by studying proteins in the brain

• Improving cancer diagnosis

• Improving liver cancer diagnosis

Researchers report the most complete list so far of the proteins present in the cerebral cortex the outermost layer of the brain that plays a central role in memory, language, cognition, and consciousness. The cerebral cortex is also the part of the brain that contains the hallmarks of many neurodegenerative diseases, so these results could help understand how such diseases develop and maybe find ways to slow it down.

Most neurodegenerative diseases develop in specific regions of the brain. For instance, loss of neurons due to Alzheimers disease (AD) occur mostly in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and degeneration of neurons in Parkinsons disease largely centers on an area in the back of the brain called the brainstem at least in the early stage of the disease.

Jing Zhang and colleagues identified over 800 different proteins in a part of the cortex near the forehead called the frontal cortex. This region of the brain is involved in many neurodegenerative diseases in which intellectual function deteriorates over time, including AD, Parkinsons disease with dementia (PDD), and dementia with Lewy body (DLB) disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

The proteins identified in this study perform various functions inside the cell, such as the transport of other proteins, the activation of neighboring proteins, and the catalysis of biochemical reactions. Among these proteins, the scientists found that at least half a dozen are known to be associated with neurodegenerative diseases, but examining
'/>"/>