Bhattacharya believes restoring normal deimination could be the key to stopping MS-associated vision loss and possibly regenerating damaged tissue. While too much deimination is happening on the outside of neurons, too little is happening on the inside, reducing protein transport and limiting neuronal function.ĭr. “This leads to more myelin being chewed down by the protease enzymes, more peptide formation and more immunogenic activity.” Bhattacharya, who is professor of ophthalmology and also directs the Ophthalmology Mass Spectrometry Facility at Bascom Palmer. “Deiminase is secreted by the astroglial cells and begins attacking the myelin sheath of the neurons and making more deimination,” said Dr. When these cells become inflamed, they can produce too much deiminase, when can generate a cascade of bad events. However, the brain contains many other cell types, such as astrocytes (astroglia), which support neuronal function. Inside neurons, deimination is important and useful, helping these long cells transport key molecules. These modifications permanently alter certain brain proteins. Deimination is a protein modification that can have either good or bad effects, depending on where the deiminated protein is located.ĭeiminase converts an amino acid, called arginine, into a related amino acid, called citrulline. Bhattacharya’s team kept finding heightened levels of deiminase, the enzyme that causes deimination, in the optic nerves of MS patients. Myelin acts like the rubber coating around electrical wires, and when it’s destroyed, neurons can have trouble transmitting information. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder, during which the immune system attacks the myelin sheaths that insulate neurons. This work was recently honored by the Department of Defense through their Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The research has led the team to a biological process, called deimination, that plays a key role in MS. Sanjoy Bhattacharya, Ph.D., who leads a research team at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has been investigating ways to prevent the vision loss associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).
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