Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide

Form of vitamin B3 may help manage Parkinson’s disease

Posted by

0


Researchers estimate that more than 10 million people around the world have Parkinson’s disease, making it the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease.

There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s disease. Medications, lifestyle changesTrusted Source, and sometimes surgery are used to manage symptoms through the disease’s stages.

Over the past few years, researchers have also looked at nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) — an important molecule that helps the body create energy — as a possible treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Previous research suggests people with Parkinson’s may have a NAD+ deficiencyTrusted Source, and increasingTrusted Source NAD+ levels may have a positive effect.

Now, a phase 1 clinical trial has found that a high dose supplementation of nicotinamide ribosideTrusted Source (NR) — a source of vitamin B3 and precursor to NAD+ — increased whole blood NAD+ levels and expanded the NAD+ metabolomeTrusted Source in people with Parkinson’s disease, and may be associated with clinical symptomatic improvement for those with the condition.

The research is still in its early stages, and it has not been conclusively proven that NR supplementation can improve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

The study was recently published in the journal Nature CommunicationsTrusted Source.

What are NR and NAD+?

According to Prof. Charalampos Tzoulis, professor of neurology and neurogenetics at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen Norway, and co-lead author of this study, NR is a form of vitamin B3 and a precursor of NAD+.

“NAD+ is an essential coenzyme that plays a vital role in multiple cellular processes, including mitochondrial function — the powerhouses of the cell — and cellular energy metabolism, regulation of gene expression, and DNA repair,” Dr. Tzoulis explained to Medical News Today.

“Research has shown that abnormal energy metabolism, due to dysfunction in the mitochondria, occurs in the Parkinson’s disease brain and is believed to play a role in the initiation and progression of the disease,” he added.

Dr. Daniel Truong, a neurologist and medical director of the Truong Neuroscience Institute at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, who was not involved in this study, told MNT that NAD+ levels tend to decline with ageTrusted Source.

“Some potential benefits and uses associated with NR include anti-aging, energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, [and] DNA repair,” Dr. Truong detailed. “Some research suggests that NR might have neuroprotective properties.”

NR supplementation may help in Parkinson’s

This study was part of the ChromaDex External Research Program (CERP™), which donated ChromaDex’s patented NR ingredient, Niagen®, for the advancement of this research.

The phase 1 clinical trial included 20 study participants with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Participants received either 3,000 milligrams (mg) of NR in oral supplement form, or a placebo each day for 4 consecutive weeks.

Study participants were then assessed based on clinical and molecular measures, an electrocardiogram, and the severity of Parkinson’s disease symptoms through the MDS-UPDRS rating scale.

Researchers found that NR significantly increased NAD+ levels and modified the NAD+ metabolome in whole blood, compared to those who received the placebo.

Daily supplementation ‘safe’ in the short term

The study also reportedly found the high-dose NR was safe and well-tolerated by study participants, and was associated with a significant improvement of clinical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, measured by the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), suggesting augmenting NAD+ levels may have a symptomatic anti-Parkinson’s effect.

“The study showed that treatment with high dose NR 3 gr [grams] daily is short-term safe for a month and may, therefore, be explored in larger clinical trials,” Dr. Tzoulis said. “It must be stressed that our study does not establish general safety for this NR dose, or whether it is safe to take for any period longer than 30 days. This remains to be determined in longer studies.”

“In addition, the study showed that NR 3 gr daily leads to a pronounced increase in blood NAD levels and related metabolites, without causing any adverse metabolic effects after 30 days,” he continued.

However, he cautioned that, “[w]hile NR treatment was associated with a small clinical improvement in this study, this cannot be interpreted as a sign of clinical effect, as the study was not designed to detect clinical improvement.”

Would higher doses of NR be safe?

One of the main purposes of the phase 1 study was to determine the short-term safety of 3,000 mg NR daily.

“To harness the full therapeutic potential of NR, we need to explore higher-dose regimens,” Dr. Tzoulis said. “This study establishes the short-term safety of 3,000 mg NR daily and allows high-dose options to be explored in future therapeutic trials.”

Another study, called the NO-PARK study, is still ongoing.

“As for conclusive proof on the therapeutic potential of NR in Parkinson’s disease, we look forward to the results from our year-long NO-PARK phase 2/3 study on 400 persons with Parkinson’s disease, which is already ongoing at our Center and estimated to conclude by the end of 2024,” he added. “Public information on the NO-PARK study can be viewed at neuro-sysmed.no and at clinicaltrials.gov.”

Larger, long-term studies needed

After reviewing this study, Dr. Rocco DiPaola, movement disorders neurologist at the Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, told MNT his first reaction is that it offers a potential treatment that may help slow the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.

“There [are] currently no treatments that offer neuroprotection and this would be a treatment that may help prevent some of the long-term complications related to advancing disease. The current study was on a small scale and short duration to demonstrate safety. A large-scale trial with [a] longer duration of treatment would be necessary to further demonstrate safety and a neuroprotective benefit.”

– Dr. Rocco DiPaola

Dr. Truong agreed, noting that “[the findings are promising, but this is just one study, and its results need to be replicated and expanded upon in larger and longer-term trials, especially double-blind studies.”

“I am intrigued by the mechanism of action proposed in the study, namely the increase in NAD+ levels and its potential neuroprotective effects,” he said.

Dr. Truong noted that it will be interesting to find out how the new findings “could be integrated into current treatment protocols for Parkinson’s disease, considering the safety profile and patient tolerance.”

“Given the current status of treating Parkinson’s disease, any potential new therapeutic avenue is of interest,” Dr. Truong added. “The idea of a supplement that could improve clinical symptoms and potentially slow disease progression is particularly appealing.”

Scientists Reverse DNA Damage in Mice. Human Trials are Next. 

Posted by

0


DNA is a critical part of the cell, it is the instruction manual for building cells. Whilst DNA is well protected within the cell nucleus damage does occur, therefore DNA repair is absolutely essential for cell function, cell survival and the prevention of cancer. The good news is cells are able to repair damaged DNA but the bad news is that this ability declines with aging for reasons as yet to be fully understood.

An exciting new study by researchers led by Dr. David Sinclair at Harvard Medical School shows a part of the process that enables cells to repair damaged DNA involving the signalling molecule NAD. This offers insight into how the body repairs DNA and why that repair system declines as we age. Before we get into the new research study let’s take a look at how DNA damage relates to aging and what NAD is.

Genomic instability a driver of aging?

The stability and integrity of our DNA is challenged on a daily basis by various external physical, chemical and biological agents as well as by internal threats such as replication errors, reactive oxygen species and other factors.

Some aging theories such as the Hallmarks of aging implicate DNA damage as one of the primary driving processes of aging contributing to genomic instability[1]. Various premature aging diseases such as progeria are the consequence of accumulated DNA damage, however the relationship between progeria and normal aging is as yet unresolved. This is partly due to the fact that the different progeroid syndromes only manifest certain aspects of aging seen in normally aging people.

This means that this new study is very important in helping us to understand the relationship between DNA damage and aging.

What is NAD?

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a dinucleotide, meaning that it consists of two nucleotides joined by their phosphate groups. One nucleotide contains an adenine base and the other contains nicotinamide. NAD is found in two forms, an oxidized and reduced form abbreviated as NAD+ and NADH respectively. As part of its role in metabolism, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide supports redox reactions, the moving of electrons from one reaction to another. The transfer of electrons is the primary function of NAD but it has other roles too.

Found in every cell in our body, NAD helps to suppress genes that accelerate the aging process and is a fundamental part of our metabolic system. NAD is associated with the sirtuins, which are closely linked to longevity in mammals and other organisms. Its control over cell damaging oxidation is also well documented. NAD declines during the aging process due to being actively destroyed by inflammatory signalling as shown in a 2013 study by Schultz and Sinclair[2].

So what’s the big news?

This new study demonstrates a previously unknown role for the NAD signalling molecule as a master regulator of protein to protein interaction during DNA repair. It also gives us valuable insight into why the body’s ability to repair DNA damage begins to fail as we age[3].

These experiments conducted in mice demonstrate that treatment with a NAD precursor known as nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) can mitigate and resist age-related DNA damage as well as the damage resulting from exposure to radiation. Whilst there is no guarantee that these results will translate from mice to humans due to differences in biology, if they do it is of great interest.

Building on previous research

David Sinclair and his team already demonstrated that NMN can extend the lifespan of mice in a previous study[4] and reverses loss of mitochondrial function with age[5]. The team began this new study by examining the various proteins and molecules they believed were involved in the aging process.

They knew that NAD, whose levels fall with age, increases the activity of the SIRT1 protein (one of the Sirtuin family) and can delay some aspects of aging, extending the lifespan in yeast, flies and mice. They also knew that SIRT1 and PARP1, a protein that is involved in DNA repair, both consume NAD during their activation.

The team also looked at a protein called DBC1, a common protein found in humans and many other organisms from bacteria upwards. Studies had shown that DBC1 was able to inhibit the activity of SIRT1, so they believed it might also influence PARP1 given their similar roles, and wanted to see if it was connected to NAD. It turns out they were correct and the study revealed this link.

The research group tested the relationship between the three proteins by measuring protein-to-proteins interaction within human kidney cells. They discovered that PARP1 and DBC1 actually bond strongly to each other but, when NAD levels increase that bonding is reduced. Simply put, the more NAD in a cell the fewer bonds DCB1 and PARP1 can form, freeing up PARP1 so it can repair damaged DNA. They also took this further, inhibited NAD and noted the number of DBC1 to PARP1 bonds increased. This shows that reduced levels of NAD strongly influence the ability of cells to repair DNA damage.

These findings suggest that as NAD falls during the aging process the less NAD there is to prevent DBC1 and PARP1 bonding, which is harmful to DNA repair. The result of this ultimately causes DNA damage to go unrepaired and accumulate over time, leading to cell damage, mutations, loss of tissue, cell function, and organ failure.

Getting down to the nitty gritty

That in itself was interesting enough to have discovered this previously unknown function of NAD, but the researchers wanted to understand exactly how NAD was doing this. To find out how NAD prevents DBC1 from bonding with PARP1 they examined a region of DBC1 known as NHD. NHD is a pocket shaped structure common to around 80,000 different proteins in a huge number of species, and its function has been a mystery to scientists. The team showed that this NHD region is a NAD binding site and in DBC1, NAD binds to this region and prevents DBC1 from bonding with PARP1 to prevent DNA repair.

Interestingly NHD is so common in across species it suggests that this NAD binding may play a similar role preventing harmful protein interactions in many species including humans.

Moving to mice

Next the researchers treated old mice with NMN, but before they did they checked the protein levels in the mice. As predicted the old mice had lower levels of NAD in their livers, as well as lower PARP1 levels and a larger number of bonded PARP1 and DBC1 proteins. However once given NMN in their drinking water for just one week, the old mice showed significant improvement in NAD and PARP1 levels. Tests showed the NAD levels in the livers of the old mice increased similar to those observed in younger mice. PARP1 levels were a similar story and PARP1 and DBC1 bonded proteins were reduced. The researchers also recorded a reduction in biomarkers for DNA damage suggesting that DNA repair had been improved.

Finally the researchers exposed mice to radiation to damage their DNA. They discovered that mice treated with NMN before radiation exposure showed lower levels of DNA damage. The mice also did not display the characteristic changes to blood counts, such as changes to lymphocyte and hemoglobin levels typically seen after radiation exposure. Interestingly, mice treated post radiation also enjoyed similar protective effects from NMN treatment.

Of mice and men

Human trials with NMN are anticipated to begin within the next six months according to researchers and the potential discoveries are significant for our understanding of the biology of aging.

In conclusion the results show the mechanism behind DNA repair and cell death caused by DNA damage. Should further animal studies and human clinical results confirm the findings, this may pave the way for therapies that repair DNA damage due to radiation exposure from sources such as radiotherapy and environment and of course, for treating age-related decline.

 

Literature

[1] López-Otín, C., Blasco, M. A., Partridge, L., Serrano, M., & Kroemer, G. (2013). The hallmarks of aging. Cell, 153(6), 1194-1217.
[2] Schultz, M. B., & Sinclair, D. A. (2016). Why NAD+ Declines during Aging: It’s Destroyed. Cell metabolism, 23(6), 965-966.
[3] Li, J., Bonkowski, M. S., Moniot, S., Zhang, D., Hubbard, B. P., Ling, A. J., … & Aravind, L. (2017). A conserved NAD+ binding pocket that regulates protein-protein interactions during aging. Science, 355(6331), 1312-1317.
[4] North, B. J., Rosenberg, M. A., Jeganathan, K. B., Hafner, A. V., Michan, S., Dai, J., … & van Deursen, J. M. (2014). SIRT2 induces the checkpoint kinase BubR1 to increase lifespan. The EMBO journal, e201386907.
[5] Gomes, A. P., Price, N. L., Ling, A. J., Moslehi, J. J., Montgomery, M. K., Rajman, L., … & Mercken, E. M. (2013). Declining NAD+ induces a pseudohypoxic state disrupting nuclear-mitochondrial communication during aging. Cell, 155(7), 1624-1638.

Source:http://www.leafscience.org/

Australian and US scientists reverse ageing in mice, humans could be next.

Posted by

0


Laboratory mouse
PhotoAgeing process reversed: It works in mice, now humans could be nextReuters

Australian and US researchers have developed a compound which reverses muscle ageing in mice, saying it could be one of the keys to reversing ageing in humans.

When used in trials, the compound gave mice more energy, toned their muscles, reduced inflammation, and led to big improvements in insulin resistance.

Scientists say it actually reversed the ageing process, not just slowing it down, and say that for humans the effect would be similar to a 60-year-old feeling like a 20-year-old.

And they say human trials could start within the year.

The study has been published this morning in the research journal Cell.

“I’ve been studying ageing at the molecular level now for nearly 20 years and I didn’t think I’d see a day when ageing could be reversed. I thought we’d be lucky to slow it down a little bit,” University of New South Wales geneticist Professor David Sinclair said.

“The mice had more energy, their muscles were as though they’d be exercising and it was able to mimic the benefits of diet and exercise just within a week.”

Video 4:39 Dr Nigel Turner from the University of NSW explains the research

Researchers reverse symptoms of aging with 1 week of treatment ABC News

Professor Sinclair led the study from his base at Harvard Medical School in the US.

“We think that should be able to keep people healthier for longer and keep them from getting diseases of ageing,” he said.

The researchers also looked at particular diseases in the old mice.

“We looked at diabetes, we looked at muscle wasting or frailty, and we also look at inflammations as something that gives rise to many diseases like arthritis. All of those aspects of ageing were reversed within that week and that was really quite a striking result,” Professor Sinclair said.

He said the team identified a new cause of ageing that is particularly prevalent in muscle, including the heart.

Audio 3:32 Researchers discover how to wind back the clock on ageing

AM

“What we think is going on is that we have two major chromosome sets in our body,” he said.

“We have chromosomes that we all know about, we call it our genome, but there’s other DNA that we often don’t think about – the mitochondrial DNA that we get from our mothers.

“What we found is that during ageing these two genomes, the chromosomes, don’t talk to each other,” he said.

“Much like a married couple talks to each other when they’re newly married but then they stop communicating after about 20 years, at least in some cases.

I’ve been studying ageing at the molecular level now for nearly 20 years and I didn’t think I’d see a day when ageing could be reversed.

Professor David Sinclair

“Then we found that we could reverse that and get the communication going again and the animals went back to being young again.

“We used a molecule that raises a chemical in the body that goes down as we get older – its simple name is NAD (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide),” he added.

“When we’re young we have the high levels of NAD and if we exercise and diet, the levels of this NAD molecule are high in our body.

“But as we get older, and as these mice in our experiments got older, the levels went down about 50 per cent and then we could give this drug to bring the levels back up again.”

The next stage in the research involves trials with humans, most likely within the next year.

Professor Sinclair is reluctant to forecast how long it will be before the compound might be readily available for use but he says he has established a company to push things along.

“These trials, if we do manage to do them in patients, are millions of dollars and really I need to raise money to be able to do them and that’s the mechanism,” he said.