Mistakes in a gene known as ALS5, or spatacsin, cause a rare form of inherited MND that develops at a much earlier age than most other forms of the disease. Under supervision from Dr Cahir O’Kane, MND Association funded PhD student Alex Patto has been using fruit flies to understand how mistakes in spatacsin cause MND (our grant reference 861-792).
Prior to this research, which is based at the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, nothing was known about how faulty spatacsin leads to motor neurone degeneration. Three and a half year years on, this research has shed light on this important question.
What did they find?
By conducting tests in the fruit flies, Alex has found that the spatacsin protein has a role in cell recycling (also known as autophagy), a process which keeps cells healthy. When the spatacsin protein is faulty it leads to disrupted cell recycling and abnormal levels of another protein called Rab7, which might contribute to MND development.
How will this research contribute to future work?
This research has provided a well characterised new disease model that can be used by other researchers. It has increased our knowledge of the role of spatacsin in MND development, and highlighted an important biological pathway that could be targeted with future therapies. This could be useful for treating all forms of the disease.
For more information on funding research involving animals please see our website: www.mndassociation.org/animalresearch
Throughout June 2016 MND Awareness Month will be highlighting the rapid progression of the disease in its powerful Shortened Stories campaign, sharing the experiences of people currently living with MND, or who have lost loved ones to the disease, through art, poetry and film.
