How do you TRAP a Disease?

There is some new and exciting research out in the media over the past few days. It seems that some smart scientists have discovered a way to identify the genetic messages of distinct cells.

Before I go into how this works I want to discuss how this helps Parkinson's Disease research. As is well known, the ongoing, progressive cause of Parkinson's is the death of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra section of the brain. The aspect of this that is not well known is that there are 2 different types of dopamine neurons in this brain section, but only one of the types dies off in PD. No one understands why this is the case, how it happens or if there is a way to stop it. The main reason that none of this process is understood is that there has been no good way to isolate and analyze these two different cell types. That is there wasn't a way until recently.

Scientists at the Michael Stern Parkinson's Disease Foundation, part of Rockefeller University, have developed a method to distinguish between these 2 types of dopamine cells as well as all other cell types. They developed a procedure called Translational Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP) that can essentially isolate the genetic messages of any cell thereby showing the differences in the cells at a genetic level.

All cells have a structure called ribosomes that work as the protein production factories. The proteins that are "created" within the ribosomes are a direct result of their genetic make up. By looking at which proteins are produced scientists can determine which genes are "turned on" in the cell. By understanding which genes are "turned on" scientists can determine differences in similar cell types.

TRAP uses genetically engineered mice to tag ribosomes in a particular cell type and then capture the genetic messages as they pass through ribosomes on their way to creating proteins.

So how does this research help Parkinson's Disease? Well, first it allows for better research into how the two types of dopamine neurons differ. Understanding this difference may point to reasons why one type dies while the other lives on as usual. Also, understanding the proteins created by the diseased cell type may offer insight into better treatments for PD. Who knows... it may be possible to somehow supplement the proteins that the dying cells created.

All in all I think this is a remarkable breakthrough that has the potential to speed up research into new treatments as well as new avenues for research into what causes Parkinson's Disease in the first place.