| VCAM1‐mediated regulation of dopaminergic neuron function in Parkinson’s disease |
| Mihee Oh1 (Dr.), Sunha Lee1,2 (Graduate student), Eunhye kim1,2 (Graduate student), Yewon Jang1 (Research worker), Baek-Soo Han1,2,* (Professor) |
1Biodefense Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB),
2Department of Functional Genomics, University of Science and Technology (UST) |
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Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, striatal dopamine deficiency, and the accumulation of intracellular メ‐synuclein aggregates. In this study, we employed induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to generate dopaminergic neurons from somatic cells of both PD patients and healthy controls. Our results demonstrate that patient‐derived neurons exhibit elevated expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1), which correlates with altered synaptic plasticity, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired Rac1 and FAK2 signaling. These findings suggest that VCAM1 plays a pivotal role in PD pathogenesis and may serve as a potential therapeutic target.
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| Abstract, Accepted Manuscript [Submitted on March 6, 2025, Accepted on March 12, 2025] |
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