| First Author | Lev N | Year | 2015 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | e0127549 |
| PubMed ID | 26024237 | Mgi Jnum | J:237730 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5816677 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0127549 |
| Citation | Lev N, et al. (2015) A DJ-1 Based Peptide Attenuates Dopaminergic Degeneration in Mice Models of Parkinson's Disease via Enhancing Nrf2. PLoS One 10(5):e0127549 |
| abstractText | Drugs currently used for treating Parkinson's disease patients provide symptomatic relief without altering the neurodegenerative process. Our aim was to examine the possibility of using DJ-1 (PARK7), as a novel therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease. We designed a short peptide, named ND-13. This peptide consists of a 13 amino acids segment of the DJ-1-protein attached to 7 amino acids derived from TAT, a cell penetrating protein. We examined the effects of ND-13 using in vitro and in vivo experimental models of Parkinson's disease. We demonstrated that ND-13 protects cultured cells against oxidative and neurotoxic insults, reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation, activated the protective erythroid-2 related factor 2 system and increased cell survival. ND-13 robustly attenuated dopaminergic system dysfunction and in improved the behavioral outcome in the 6-hydroxydopamine mouse model of Parkinson's disease, both in wild type and in DJ-1 knockout mice. Moreover, ND-13 restored dopamine content in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine mouse model. These findings validate DJ-1 as a promising therapeutic target in Parkinson's disease and identify a novel peptide with clinical potential, which may be significant for a broader range of neurological diseases, possibly with an important impact for the neurosciences. |
