{"id":224880,"date":"2025-11-11T05:04:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T11:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/removing-toxic-proteins-before-they-can-damage-motor-neurons"},"modified":"2025-11-11T05:04:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T11:04:25","slug":"removing-toxic-proteins-before-they-can-damage-motor-neurons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/removing-toxic-proteins-before-they-can-damage-motor-neurons","title":{"rendered":"Removing toxic proteins before they can damage motor neurons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/removing-toxic-proteins-before-they-can-damage-motor-neurons.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>University of Wollongong (UOW) scientists have developed a breakthrough therapy that clears toxic proteins from nerve cells\u2014a discovery that advances the work of the late Professor Justin Yerbury and could transform the treatment of motor neuron disease (MND).<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-025-65481-w\" target=\"_blank\">proof-of-concept study<\/a>, published in <i>Nature Communications<\/i> and led by Dr. Christen Chisholm from UOW\u2019s Molecular Horizons, unveils a therapeutic designer molecule, MisfoldUbL, that targets and removes toxic misfolded SOD1 (superoxide dismutase 1) proteins from cells. SOD1 is an antioxidant enzyme that plays a crucial role in protecting cells from damage caused by superoxide radicals. About 35% of people with inherited MND in Australia have SOD1 gene mutations that cause more frequent misfolding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn MND, proteins misfold more frequently and the cell\u2019s degradation systems become overwhelmed and stop working properly. The misfolded <a href=\"https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/tags\/protein\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">protein<\/a> can then accumulate, forming clumps or \u2018aggregates\u2019 and over time, this accumulation damages and eventually kills motor neurons, leading to gradual muscle weakness, paralysis and death,\u201d Dr. Chisholm said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Wollongong (UOW) scientists have developed a breakthrough therapy that clears toxic proteins from nerve cells\u2014a discovery that advances the work of the late Professor Justin Yerbury and could transform the treatment of motor neuron disease (MND). The proof-of-concept study, published in Nature Communications and led by Dr. Christen Chisholm from UOW\u2019s Molecular Horizons, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,412,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-genetics","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}