Protein Found to Limit Damage of Acute Brain Injury

Scientists have identified a protein with the ability to limit nuerologic damage induced by stroke or trauma and thereby has the potential to improve the long-term outcome of acute brain injury. Their findings were reported in the July 13, 2003, online issue of Nature Medicine.

In the process of identifying new mechanisms of brain protection by using a genomics approach, the researchers found the gene encoding uncoupling protein-2 (UCP-2) to be up-regulated in response to short episodes of reduced blood flow. Further analysis revealed that UPC-2 displayed a marked neuroprotective effect in experimental mouse models of stroke and brain trauma and in vitro models of neuronal death, indicating that UCP-2 is potentially protective against human stroke and brain trauma. The research was conducted by AGY Therapeutics, Inc. (So. San Francisco, CA, USA; www.agyinc.com), in collaboration with scientists at the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center (Sweden), the State University of Campinas (Brazil), and the University of California, Davis (USA).

"Following stroke or serious head injury, a cascade of events is initiated in the vicinity of the damage that results in the programmed cell death of neurons, which is responsible for many of the long-term debilitating effects of brain trauma,” said Karoly Nikolich, Ph.D., founder and chief scientific officer, AGY Therapeutics.”




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