Upregulation of the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System as a Potential Mode of Therapy

There are numerous cellular maintenance processes responsible for breaking down various component parts of the cell, proteins, and forms of metabolic waste. Autophagy, for example. Another is the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Broken or excess proteins are tagged with a ubiquitin molecule, which ensures they are broken up for raw materials by a proteasome. Proteasomes come in a variety of flavors, and all are very complex multi-protein structures. Like other forms of cellular maintenance, the pace at which the ubiquitin-proteasome system operates is regulated and responds to environmental cues such as lack of nutrients resulting from calorie restriction or the oxidative stress that results from mitochondrial activity during exercise. Greater cellular maintenance leads to better cell function, a reduction in downstream damage caused by the presence of damaged proteins. Analogous to the search for ways to upregulate autophagy, factions within the research community have looked for ways to artificially boost the activity of proteasomes. Research programs tend to start by using exercise or calorie restriction to help understand how exactly the ubiquitin-proteasome system functions, and how proteasomal activity is regulated, and then proceed to find ways to intervene at the point of regulation. The research materials here are a snapshot of one such development program. As is the case for upregulation of autophagy, we should expect upregulation of proteasomal activity t...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs