Unique therapeutic peptide identified.

• Position: Pharmaceuticals - Brief article

A peptide that shows potential for pharmaceutical development into agents for treating infections, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer through an ability to induce a cell-recycling process called autophagy has been synthesized by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

Autophagy is a fundamental recycling process in which intracellular enzymes digest unneeded and broken parts of the cell into their individual building blocks, which then are reassembled into new parts. The role of autophagy is crucial both in keeping cells healthy and enabling them to fight different diseases.

UTSW physician-scientists are deciphering how to manipulate the autophagy process in an effort to disrupt the progression of disease and promote health. They have been able to synthesize a peptide called Tat-beclin 1, which induces the autophagy process. Treatment with Tatbeclin-1 could prove resistant to several infectious diseases, including West Nile virus and another mosquito-borne virus called chikungunya that is common to Asia...