Scientists at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have discovered a genetic pathway that may hold the key to understanding oxidative stress, the process that contributes to diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, stroke, cancer, as well as aging. The finding could one day enable the manipulation of genes or the development of novel drugs to thwart disease.

Oxidative stress occurs when the body's ability to neutralize highly toxic chemicals, known as free radicals, is overtaxed. Free radicals can damage DNA and other molecules essential for a cell's health. A key enzyme in the new pathway, dubbed Star-PAP by its Wisconsin discoverers, functions as part of a complex that controls the expression of messenger RNA, molecules that carry genetic information from the cell's nucleus to the cytoplasm where proteins are made. Star-PAP adds a critical biochemical tail onto messenger RNA, helping govern production of key enzymes and proteins in the cell.

"Star-PAP is a master switch that controls key aspects of oxidative stress in cells," said Richard A. Anderson, a professor of pharmacology at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. The discovery of a gene expression pathway and specific enzymes that exert broad influence on the process of oxidative stress has clear clinical relevance, according to Anderson, because it could potentially be manipulated to mitigate the damage oxygen does to cells.

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