Publication date: Jul 07, 2025
(CREDIT: Nature Cell Death & Disease)Cell Traffic and Dead EndsIn 2014, the same team at UB discovered that the normal HTT protein worked like a traffic controller. (CREDIT: Nature Cell Death & Disease)Zooming in on the Cellular MapTo dig deeper, the team used stem cell-derived neurons from people with and without the HTT mutation. For years, researchers knew that HTT helped with moving cell parts along thin structures called axons, which are like highways inside neurons. (CREDIT: Nature Cell Death & Disease)Among the biggest disruptions was in a group of pathways related to axon guidance, membrane trafficking, and vesicle transport. It was actively interfering with other essential cell processes. They also saw higher levels of GSK3 and lower levels of ERK1 in the diseased neurons. These include the motor proteins that move cargo and the membrane proteins that receive signals from the rest of the body. In healthy cells, HTT helps bring other proteins together at membranes, like parts on a workbench.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Buffalo | Cells |
| Cancer | Credit |
| Dead | Damage |
| Healthier | Death |
| Trafficking | Disease |
| Erk1 | |
| Gsk3 | |
| Htt | |
| Huntington | |
| Huntingtons | |
| Key | |
| Mutation | |
| Nature | |
| Neurons | |
| Transport |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | death |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Guanine |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Adenine |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Pentaerythritol tetranitrate |
| disease | MESH | causes |
| disease | MESH | Huntington’s disease |
| pathway | KEGG | Motor proteins |
| pathway | REACTOME | Kinesins |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Phosphate ion |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Tropicamide |
| disease | MESH | defects |
| pathway | REACTOME | Axon guidance |
| pathway | REACTOME | Membrane Trafficking |
| disease | MESH | cancer |
| disease | MESH | Neurological Disorders |
| disease | MESH | Stroke |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Nonoxynol-9 |