Mart Saarma: "ER stress regulating protein CDNF and neurodegeneration"

5. veebruaril 2020 kell 11.00-12-15, ruumis M-649 toimub professor Mart Saarma (Biotehnoloogia instituut, HiLIFE, Helsingi Ülikool) loengu "ER stress regulating protein CDNF and neurodegeneration". Loeng toimub inglise keeles (45 minutit + arutelu). / You are invited to Mart Saarma's (Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki) "ER stress regulating protein CDNF and neurodegeneration" lecture, which takes place on February 5th 2020 from 11am to 12.15pm in Room M-649.

Loengu lühikokkuvõtte / A short summary of the lecture: 
Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects about 10 million people and no cure exists that can slow down or stop the disease progression. Current drugs can only temporarily alleviate the motor symptoms, which arise when the midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons degenerate and die. However, PD patients also suffer from non-motor symptoms, such as constipation, lack of motivation, loss of smell, depression, sleep disorders and cognitive decline that remain untreated with current PD drugs. Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF), an unconventional ER  stress regulating protein discovered by our group, showed  therapeutic potential in rodent and Rhesus monkey neurotoxin models of PD, and Finnish company Herantis Pharma Plc. has taken CDNF in 2017 to phase I-II clinical trials in PD patients. Since CDNF cannot pass through the blood - brain barrier (BBB), it is delivered directly into the patient’s brain via catheters that are installed during invasive and risky surgery. We have recently discovered a fragment of CDNF that can pass through the BBB after subcutaneous administration. Use of CDNF fragment may allow peripheral delivery avoiding intracranial delivery. Furthermore, CDNF fragment use may offer two additional advantages. Moreover, since the fragment’s ability to pass BBB, the treatment can be initiated immediately after the onset of symptoms in PD patients. 

Prof Mart Saarma tutvustus / Prof. Mart Saarma introduction:
Mart Saarma is the professor of biotechnology, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki. He has studied neurotrophic factors and their receptors in the development and in neurodegenerative diseases. His group has discovered several GDNF family receptors and demonstrated that RET receptor tyrosine kinase is the signalling receptor for GDNF. Recently his group has discovered a new neurotrophic factor CDNF and shown that this protein has potential in animal models of Parkinson's disease. His group is currently investigating the biology and therapeutic potential of CDNF, homologous protein MANF, as well as GDNF and its receptor GFRa1. Dr. Saarma is the member of several academies and EMBO. He has received several domestic and international scientific prizes and awards.

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