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Like several other major neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson disease (PD) is associated with aging. In PD, the protein α-synuclein causes aggregates called Lewy bodies and leads to the death of dopamine-containing cells in the substantia nigra. The human sirtuin genes play a role in aging (Journal Watch General Medicine Dec 28 2006). Therefore, a multi-institutional team asked whether the sirtuin genes might directly affect the pathogenesis of PD.
The team discovered two molecules that inhibit sirtuin 2 (SIRT2). They used those inhibitors, as well as the technique of RNA interference (Journal Watch General Medicine Dec 31 2003), to inhibit the activity of SIRT2 in human glioma cells that make α-synuclein, in rat neuronal cells that make α-…