Molecular Pharmacological Studies on the Protection Mechanism against Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-induced Neurodegenerative Disease

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) is a mechanism against ER stress, wherein unfolded proteins accumulated in the ER are transported to the cytosol for degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. We identified the novel ubiquitin ligase HRD1 involved in ERAD. HRD1 is expressed in brain neurons and protects against ER stress-induced apoptosis. In familial Parkinson's disease, accumulation of Parkin-associated endothelin...