Abnormal degradation of HSF1 may cause misfolded proteins in Huntington’s disease

Written by Hannah Makin

A recent study published in Nature Communications has shed new light onto the mechanisms behind the protein misfolding that leads to neuronal cell death in patients diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD). To investigate the exact mechanisms behind these failures in quality control, researchers at the Duke University Medical Center (NC, USA) looked more closely into the role of chaperone proteins. Senior author Dennis Thiele (Duke University) explained the importance of these chaperone proteins: "Normally when proteins misfold, the cells have a mechanism to cope. These quality control mechanisms can prod the proteins back into their normal three-dimensional shape, or if...

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