2023-07-03 12:21:04
“Today, fortunately, the paths that research is following are many, and none can be abandoned”. With these words Elena Cattaneo, world-renowned researcher at the University of Milan and the National Institute of Molecular Genetics, as well as life senator, summarizes the situation in the fight against Huntington’s disease, a serious and rare neurodegenerative genetic condition that it affects the coordination of movements and leads to an unstoppable neurological decline. As a guest of the Neurogenetics and Rare Diseases Laboratory of the Irccs Neuromed in Pozzilli (Isernia), Cattaneo presented the results of the latest research on a very promising aspect in Huntington’s research: the role of cholesterol in the central nervous system.
“We are talking about research that began about 25 years ago – he underlines – and our laboratory discovered that cholesterol, one of the most important lipids we know, is reduced in the brain of animal models of Huntington’s disease. The next step was to administer cholesterol intracerebrally to evaluate its impact on the disease, discovering that the results were positive. In short, the treatment proved to be beneficial in various conditions, so we are talking about well-established data, even if many more studies will be needed before we can think of a therapy for humans”.
The visit to Neuromed represented a moment of study and comparison with the research carried out in Pozzilli. “I like to underline – continues Cattaneo – that just this morning, here at Neuromed, speaking with colleagues Alba Di Pardo and Vittorio Sweater, we compared the data. And here too there is a very important fact: the role of gangliosides, which are also very important components of the cell membrane. We are evaluating what could be the points of contact between these two results which have so far been developed independently”.
“In a rare pathology, such as Huntington’s – comments Vittorio Sweater, of the Center for Neurogenetics and Rare Diseases of Neuromed in Pozzilli – the comparison between researchers, between different lines of research, is fundamental. It is in this context that Professor Cattaneo’s visit must be seen as a sharing of experiences and results. An encounter between basic research and translationality is born, in that bridge with the clinic and with the patients that represents the soul of a Scientific Hospitalization and Treatment Institute like ours”.
“We must never forget – adds the Neuromed geneticist Alba Di Pardo, referring to the story that Cattaneo made of his experiences with Huntington’s patients in disadvantaged countries – that research is indeed exchange and interaction, and in this area today we have laid the foundations of collaborations aimed at the development of innovative therapies. But science is not just a laboratory. It was Professor Cattaneo who reminded us that there is also the human experience, there are the sick, there are people who are waiting for answers”.
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