Protein MKP-1 causes depression

The protein MKP-1 is also responsible for the onset of depression
American scientists have discovered the protein MKP-1, which is said to be responsible for the development of depression. Based on their findings, new treatments could be derived, according to researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Conneticut.

MKP-1 disturbs the signal system
The research team led by Vanja Duric scanned the samples from the brain tissue of 21 deceased people with severe depression and 18 people without such mental illness. The scientists compared the genetic codes of the samples and came to this now in the current issue of the journal „Nature Medicine "published result: „mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1“ short MKP-1 is crucial for the onset of depression. In the brain samples of the deceased with depression about twice as high amounts of the protein were found as in the samples of the healthy. According to the researchers, MKP-1 in the brain acts as a kind of biological dimmer. The more MKP-1 is present, the more disturbed the signal system in the nerve cells, which is crucial for the smooth functioning of the brain cells. Here, MPK-1 also attacks as a negative regulator in the so-called „Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) pathway, a series of multi-level signaling pathways involved in various regulatory processes, such as embryogenesis, cell differentiation or cell growth, and the MKP-1 excess in the brains of depressives, is crucial for the onset of the disease, so the scientists suspect.

Key factor for depression
To substantiate their thesis and rule out that the elevated levels of MKP-1 were merely a result of the disease rather than its cause, scientists developed a series of tests that put mice and rats under chronic stress. The physicians manipulated by genetically engineered modifications and / or the administration of drugs, the MKP-1 release in the brains of the animals. They found that the animals with reduced MKP-1 levels were significantly more resistant to stress and showed the typical signs of depressive behavior with elevated levels, the statement in the online pre-publication of the „Nature Medicine. "According to the lead author of the article, Ronald Duman, all tests confirmed that MKP-1 „a key factor in the onset of depression is a reduction or blockage of the protein that could therefore be a promising new treatment approach to effectively treat depression.

Hope for new treatment approaches
According to the scientists, the relationship between MKP-1 and depression seems quite logical from a biological point of view, since a reduced hippocampus (central focal point of the limbic system responsible for emotions) has often been observed in severe forms of the disease. For this purpose, the researchers are probably the impairment of the „The kinase pathway of MKP-1 is crucial, as MKP-1 has been relatively successfully blocked in experimental animals, and it can also be hoped for new treatment approaches in humans, as an independent therapy or in combination with conventional antidepressants good news for an estimated four million Germans suffering from depression, as traditional therapies are far too often unsuccessful. (fp, 18.10.2010)

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