\u201cOur recent study has uncovered a quite unexpected role for these fascinating molecules that are half fat and half sugar,\u201d says principal investigator Simonetta Sipione<\/a>, professor of pharmacology<\/a> and a member of the Canadian Glycomics Network,<\/a>\u00a0the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute<\/a>\u00a0and the Glycomics Institute of Alberta<\/a>. \u201cThis is something that contributes to disease pathogenesis and can be a target for therapeutic intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier research by Sipione\u2019s lab<\/a> already showed that low levels of gangliosides were associated with Huntington\u2019s symptoms, but they weren\u2019t quite sure what role the molecules played in the disease. The team had also found that by restoring one particular ganglioside called GM1, they could reverse Huntington\u2019s symptoms in mice.<\/p>\n One in every 7,000 Canadians has Huntington\u2019s, a genetic brain disorder with physical, mental and emotional symptoms, according to the Brain Canada Foundation<\/a>. It occurs when mutant huntingtin protein<\/a> misfolds and clumps inside brain cells, causing them to malfunction and eventually die.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNow we know that when gangliosides are low \u2014 not just in Huntington\u2019s disease but also in Parkinson\u2019s and in other hereditary neurodegenerative diseases \u2014 the vesicle-mediated cell communication and clearance system doesn\u2019t work properly,\u201d says Sipione. \u201cThis allows harmful proteins such as mutant huntingtin to accumulate and thus contributes to the processes that drive neurodegeneration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sipione will continue research to fully understand the underlying mechanisms of gangliosides to determine their clinical potential.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still working to understand the full picture of how gangliosides protect the brain and how they might be used as restorative therapies in neurodegenerative diseases,\u201d says Sipione, who is collaborating with a biotech company to explore the possibility of future clinical trials. While gangliosides can be synthesized or extracted from the brains of other animals that have been used for meat consumption, and they have been used as therapeutic agents for other conditions, they are not approved for use in North America.<\/p>\n One hurdle is that when gangliosides are injected into the blood, very little makes it into the brain because of a protective feature known as the blood-brain barrier<\/a>. It is still uncertain whether this limited amount is sufficient to have therapeutic effects. Sipione says alternative delivery methods such as nanoparticles, a nasal spray or a spinal injection might be needed to ensure effective delivery to the brain.<\/p>\n Sipione credits \u201coutstanding\u201d graduate students and first authors John Monyror<\/a> and Vaibhavi Kadam<\/a> for their experimental work, as well as the collaboration of pharmacology professor and co-corresponding author Elena Posse de Chaves<\/a>\u00a0and colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some of this research was carried out at the U of A\u2019s Flow Cytometry Facility<\/a>. It was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research<\/a>, the Canadian Glycomics Network<\/a>, the Brain Canada Foundation<\/a>, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada<\/a>, the Huntington Society of Canada<\/a> and the Alberta Prion Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the commitment of these partner funding agencies to fundamental neuroscience research that makes discoveries like this, with the potential to one day translate into new treatments, possible,\u201d Sipione says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A University of Alberta research team has discovered a new function for brain molecules known as gangliosides, offering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,121654,121653,84,86050,121655,33721,121652],"class_list":["post-262919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-glycomics-network","tag-faculty-of-medicine-dentistry","tag-health","tag-huntingtons-disease","tag-neuroscience-and-mental-health-institute","tag-pharmacology","tag-simonetta-sipione"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"(From](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/251105-gangliosides-neurodegenerative-disease-team-secondary-16x9-3000.jpg\")
\n(From left) U of A researchers Elena Posse de Chaves, John Monyror and Simonetta Sipione are part of a team that discovered a link between low levels of brain molecules called gangliosides and symptoms of Huntington\u2019s disease, offering a new direction for potential treatment. (Photo: Supplied)<\/p>\n