Diseases and Misfolding of Proteins

Description

We are using the grid-computation method, sharing tasks over multiple computers, in order to learn about the molecular nature of diseases that are caused from errors in protein folding. Using this method, we are doing work with the Folding@home project. The aim of theFolding@home project is to better understand protein folding, what happens when proteins do not fold correctly, and the diseases that result from this protein misfolding. Once the causes of protein misfolding are discovered, cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, BSE , and cancers could find a cure. Misfolding of proteins causes clumps of proteins to gather in the brain, causing diseases. Proteins fold very quickly, some as fast as a millionth of a second. The link to the folding@home website is: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Main Folding@home has had many successes related to protein misfolding. http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers, describes the results of the work that has been done so far.
Huntington's Disease (HD)
One of the diseases that Folding@home is currently focusing on is Huntington’s Disease. This disease results from the aggregation of various proteins. If proteins contain long enough strands that contain numerous repeats of the amino acid, glutamine aggregates begin to form, causing the disease. This abnormally long of a repeated section of the amino acid glutamine in the DNA sequence has been thought to stem from an inherited gene and has been give the name, huntingtin gene. A healthy person has a string of 9 to 39 glutamines; whereas, Huntington's patients have 36 to 121 glutamines. http://www.aboutdementia.com/articles/about-huntingtons/huntingtons-causes.php

Folding@home is examining the structure of poly-glutamine aggregates and is attempting to predict as the pathway that forms these aggregates. The goal of these Huntington’s studies is to find drug design approaches so Huntington’s can be find a method to stop the disease from forming the aggregate pathway. The link to the folding@home website is: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Papers

Huntington's Disease effects the brain in a way that causes physical symptoms throughout the entire body.