

UEF Neurodegeneration - Myohanen Lab
02.08.2021 -
Research group
Our research group is focused on studying the mechanisms and drug targets in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, aiming to develop a disease-modifying therapy.
The current treatment of neurodegenerative diseases is mainly symptomatic and is based on replacing the depleted neurotransmitter levels. However, the neuronal death progresses and leads to more severe symptoms where current medications are powerless. Therefore, a disease-modifying therapy to stop or delay the disease progression is urgently needed.
There are several common toxic mechanisms among neurodegenerative diseases. Our aim is to find and identify drug targets that can be used to multitarget on several toxic mechanisms via one target. One such target is PREP enzyme that we have studied over a decade, and by using PREP inhibitors, we have gained excellent results in the models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, and in multiple system atrophy.
There are several common toxic mechanisms among neurodegenerative diseases. Our aim is to find and identify drug targets that can be used to multitarget on several toxic mechanisms via one target. One such target is PREP enzyme that we have studied over a decade, and by using PREP inhibitors, we have gained excellent results in the models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, and in multiple system atrophy.
Funder(s)
Other funders
Academy of Finland

Sigrid Juselius Foundation

Business Finland

Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation
Keywords
Time period
02.08.2021 -
Group members - UEF
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Timo Myöhänen Professor
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Timo Myöhänen Professor
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Hengjing Cui Postdoctoral researcher
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Jaana Leskinen Laboratory Technician , Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Pharmacy
Leader(s)
Professors
Post-doctoral Researchers
Technicians
Other group members
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Dr. Johanna Uhari-Väänänen johanna.uhari@helsinki.fi
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M.Sc. Tony Eteläinen tony.etelainen@helsinki.fi
Collaboration with UEF research groups
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Molecular Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease
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Kaarniranta AMD Lab We are a tight-knit, multidisciplinary group of...
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Ocular Drug Delivery group (ODD) The Ocular Drug Delivery (ODD) group develops a...
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Transporter-Targeted Drug Delivery Endogenous solute carriers (SLCs) and ATP-bindi...
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Biomedical MRI Magnetic resonance techniques have shown great ...
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Bioorganic chemistry Research in the interface between organic and b...
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Sirtuin Research Group- UEF Pharmacy Sirtuin Research Group at School of Pharmacy de...
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NPH and Early AD Group Kuopio NPH Research Group has a unique research...
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Neurobiology of Memory Our research group investigates neurobiological...
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Neuropharmacology and Drug Targets Consortium (NDTC) NDTCs vision: Diseases of the CNS share common ...
Cooperation partners
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Uppsala University, Sweden
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Harvard University, USA
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The University of Antwerp, Belgium
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Aarhus University, Denmark
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National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, USA
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Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, University of Helsinki
Publications
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2-Imidazole as a Substitute for the Electrophilic Group Gives Highly Potent Prolyl Oligopeptidase Inhibitors Pätsi, Henri T.; Kilpeläinen, Tommi P.; Auno, Samuli; Dillemuth, Pyry M. J.; Arja, Khaled; Lahtela-Kakkonen, Maija K.; Myöhänen, Timo T.; Wallén, Erik A. A.. 2021. 2-Imidazole as a Substitute for the Electrophilic Group Gives Highly Potent Prolyl Oligopeptidase Inhibitors Acs medicinal chemistry letters 12 10: 1578-1584. 2021
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Deletion or inhibition of prolyl oligopeptidase blocks lithium-induced phosphorylation of GSK3b and Akt by activation of protein phosphatase 2A Myöhänen, Timo T; Mertens, Freke; Norrbacka, Susanna; Cui, Hengjing. 2021. Deletion or inhibition of prolyl oligopeptidase blocks lithium-induced phosphorylation of GSK3b and Akt by activation of protein phosphatase 2A Basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology 129 4: 287-296. 2021
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Prolyl oligopeptidase inhibition reduces alpha-synuclein aggregation in a cellular model of multiple system atrophy Cui, Hengjing; Kilpeläinen, Tommi; Zouzoula, Lydia; Auno, Samuli; Trontti, Kalevi; Kurvonen, Sampo; Norrbacka, Susanna; Hovatta, Iiris; Jensen, Poul Henning; Myöhänen, Timo T.. 2021. Prolyl oligopeptidase inhibition reduces alpha-synuclein aggregation in a cellular model of multiple system atrophy Journal of cellular and molecular medicine 25 20: 9634-9646. 2021
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Prolyl oligopeptidase inhibition reduces oxidative stress via reducing NADPH oxidase activity by activating protein phosphatase 2A Eteläinen, T; Kulmala, V; Svarcbahs, R; Jäntti, M; Myohänen, T T. 2021. Prolyl oligopeptidase inhibition reduces oxidative stress via reducing NADPH oxidase activity by activating protein phosphatase 2A Free radical biology and medicine 169: 14-23. 2021