Objective
A broad range of degenerative diseases is associated with intracellular inclusions formed by toxic, aggregation-prone mutant proteins. Intranuclear inclusions constitute a pathological hallmark of oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD), a rare inherited disease caused by (GCG) repeat expansions in the gene that encodes for nuclear poly(A) binding protein (PABPN1). The mutation results in an extended polyalanine stretch that has been proposed to induce protein aggregation and formation of intranuclear inclusions.
The participants in this Consortium have previously generated cellular and animal models for OPMD. The present proposal aims to make use of these models to study the molecular mechanisms of OPMD and to develop new strategies for its treatment.
Studies on the molecular mechanisms of OPMD will involve basic research on the structure and function of normal versus expanded PABPN1 protein and a determination of its interacting partners within the cell. The development of therapeutic strategies will include (i), screening for small molecules that can suppress the muscle phenotype in a Drosophila model of OPMD and (ii), the design of viral vectors for negating mutant PABPN1 function by means of siRNA-mediated knockdown or protein suppressors.
In parallel, a combined transcriptomic and metabonomic analysis will be performed on OPMD families. This knowledge will be essential to validate the data collected in the cellular and animal models and to provide potential biomarkers to monitor the direct effects of drug intervention, disease phenotype suppressors and gene therapy approaches.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology muscular dystrophies
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering gene therapy
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins protein folding
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
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Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2004-LIFESCIHEALTH-5
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Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
LISBOA
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.