(English version available soon)

A team of researchers from CEDOC - FCM UNL (Centro de Estudos de Doenças Crónicas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa) has carried out a study that indicates that high levels of sugar in the body accelerate the effects of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's disease.

Previous studies have pointed to hyperglycemia, present in diabetic patients, as accelerating the degradation of nerve cells in the brain through the action of protein glycation. Glycation is a negative and toxic reaction that glucose, at high levels, promotes in the body. It happens when carbohydrates bind to proteins, causing changes that affect the proper functioning of cells. For this reason, diabetics are more likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases and consequently suffer irreversible organic damage.

Using Huntington's Disease as a model, a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects patients' cognitive and motor skills, researchers Tiago Outeiro and Hugo Miranda decided to study the effects of glycation of the huntingtin protein in the brain. By manipulating the levels of sugar metabolized in human cells and yeast, the scientists caused the glycation of proteins and observed an increase in the accumulation of the huntingtin protein, which led to its aggregation and accelerated the destruction of nerve cells.

The researchers also carried out in vivo studies on fruit flies. In this case, genetic manipulation made it possible to link the effects of glycation with the neurogeneration of the flies and a reduction in their lifespan.

The researchers therefore concluded that "factors that are very common in the population, such as hyperglycemia, which is prevalent in pre-diabetics and diabetics, thus have a direct effect on specific diseases, such as Huntington'sdisease, causing it to manifest early," as stated in the NOVA Medical School press release.

Since Huntington's disease is associated with protein aggregation, the results of this research open the way to studying glycation as a new target for this pathology.

The study was funded by FCT through individual doctoral and post-doctoral Studentships and the FCT Investigator program. 

Lead researcher: Tiago Outeiro from Cell and Molecular Neuroscience Lab
Original article (Nature) "Glycation potentiates neurodegeneration in models of Huntington's disease"