Backed by $1.3 million in funding from the FightMND Foundation, Associate Professor Shyuan Ngo from UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) will explore how messenger molecules - known as extracellular vesicles (EVs) – in our skeletal muscles influence the onset and progression of MND.
MND is a devastating condition that gradually erodes a person’s ability to control muscle, movement, and their ability to breathe on their own.
While MND is traditionally considered a condition of the brain or spinal cord, Associate Professor Ngo said it was increasingly clear that other factors outside of the central nervous system also play a role in its progression.
Her FightMND project will seek to confirm skeletal muscle as another factor influencing this incurable neurodegenerative condition, opening a pathway to new muscle-directed treatments and add-on therapies to drugs that protect neurons.
“The idea that natural messaging nanoparticles in our muscles might drive or modify MND is certainly an out-of-the-box concept,” Associate Professor Ngo said.
“But we have already shown that skeletal muscle EVs are toxic to neurons grown in a dish.
“We now aim to conduct the first studies to test if skeletal muscle EVs drive the death of neurons or modify disease course in whole organisms with intact nervous systems.”
More than 2000 Australians are currently living with MND, and a further two are diagnosed each day.
The average survival time with the disease is between two and five years, although some people live for 10 years or longer.
Associate Professor Ngo said examining the condition from new angles – including the impact of cell-to-cell communication within muscles - would help uncover disease drivers that could be targeted with drugs and therapies.
“FightMND’s investment into this project means that we can push the boundaries of science to study aspects of disease that have never been looked at before,” she said.
“If we can show that skeletal muscle EVs play an important role, we can then find ways to target these specific EVs for drug development.”
The muscle EV project is one of three led by Associate Professor Ngo to win funding in the latest round of FightMND grants.
A total eight UQ investigators received FightMND backing for research and care initiatives for people living with MND.
The organisation has now contributed more than $115 million to MND research and care since 2014.
Read the original article on University of Queensland.
