Hyderabad: CCMB researchers unravel ‘SNCA’ gene role in Parkinson’s disease

A group of researchers from Hyderabad have unraveled the intricate mechanism and the important role that a gene known as Alpha-synuclein (SNCA) plays in the disease.

Hyderabad: In a ray of hope for the elderly suffering from Parkinson’s disease, the progressive disorder that impacts the nervous system and parts of the body controlled by nerves, a group of researchers from Hyderabad have unraveled the intricate mechanism and the important role that a gene known as Alpha-synuclein (SNCA) plays in the disease.

It turns out that there are two-forms of alpha-synuclein (SNCA) structures including amyloid filaments and smaller aggresomes. And if, both of them are balanced, then the Parkinson’s disease among individuals can be managed, the cutting-edge research by geneticists of Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) led by Swasti Raychaudhari, published in Journal of Cell Sciences (April, 2024), indicated.

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Out of the two forms of SNCA, the aggresomes are known to break proteins and they eventually degrade the SNCA gene itself. According to CCMB researchers, there is no safe balance between the aggresomes and amyloid filaments among patients with Parkinson’s disease, which indicates that there is a need to find a treatment modality that strikes a balance between the two.

While geneticists from CCMB have managed to link the role of SNCA and its two forms including amyloid filaments and aggresomes in Parkinson’s Diseases, at present, they are in the process of checking how to reduce to the load of SNCA.

There are multiple studies in the past that have linked the role of alpha-synuclein behind movement disorders including Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and neurodegenerative diseases like dementia.

With the role of SNCA gene behind such diseases becoming important, the focus by researchers worldwide is to develop therapies centered-around it. The CCMB researchers are now trying to figure out a way to activate aggresomes to reduce the load of SNCA gene that are apparently behind neurodegenerative disorders.

The CCMB research on SNCA gene paints a hopeful picture for an estimated 7 million individuals from India suffering from Parkinson’s disease.