A new molecular zip code, and a new drug target for Huntington...(enters the nucleus as it should in respo...),Health

What is important to Huntington disease research is that in the learning of the basic cell biology of this protein, we have also uncovered a new drug target for the disease, says Atwal.

Atwal additionally found that huntingtin can be sent to the nucleus by protein modifying enzymes called kinases, and he has determined the three-dimensional shape of this sequence.

Truant and Atwals work indicates that if mutant huntingtin is prevented from entering the nucleus, it cannot kill a brain cell. This means that a kinase inhibitor drug may be effective for Huntington's disease. Kinase inhibitors form the largest number of successful new generation drugs that are coming to market for a plethora of diseases including stroke, arthritis and cancer.

This is most exciting to us, because we immediately have all the tools and support in hand at McMaster to quickly hunt this kinase down, and find potential new drugs for Huntingtons disease in ways that are similar or better than a large pharmaceutical company, says Truant. Truants lab is also collaborating in the US with the Cure Huntingtons Disease Initiative (CHDI) a novel, non-profit virtual pharmaceutical company focused on HD.

A large portion of this work was completed in the new McMaster biophotonics facility (www.macbiophotonics.ca), and additional research will be done in McMasters unique high throughput screening lab (hts.mcmaster.ca) and other new labs being established at the University.

We can actually watch huntingtin protein move inside of a single live brain cell in real time in response to stress, and we can watch mutant huntingtin kill that cell, even over days, says Truant. Using molecular tools, computer software and sophisticated l
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