Source: University of Toronto
Date: December 13, 2005
Summary:
A team of researchers have discovered a protein that is responsible for shaping the nervous system. The protein guides the nervous system in disposing of the ineffective nerve cells. The protein is from a family of tumour suppressor proteins that is mutated in many human cancers. While the protein is involved in determining which nerve cells die, the research team also suspects that it determines whether nerve cells die when injured or in neurological and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
