The team, led by Professor Seong-Seng Tan at Melbourne’s Howard Florey Institute, has discovered that this naturally occurring protein, called BP5, is produced more than usual in brain cells after they have experienced traumatic injury.
Professor Tan said that, because this protein is ‘over-expressed,’ it can prevent the neuron’s cells from dying, thus reducing brain damage.
Professor Tan is the first to show that this mechanism can be fruitfully manipulated to prevent brain cells from dying. “Now our challenge is to understand how BP5 performs it neuron-saving function and develop drugs that can do the same thing,” he commented.
“Ultimately, we want to deliver the drug to patients suffering brain injury from stroke or trauma so save as many neurons as possible,” Professor Tan continued. “This treatment to prevent brain damage has wide application and could be given to car accident and assault victims, people undergoing radiotherapy for brain tumors, premature babies that need to be induced, and stroke patients.”