Saporin as the Scalpel
The Proxima recently hosted a 2-day joint conference on Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (DAPD-2025) and Neurodegenerative & Neuromuscular diseases (NND-2025). The hybrid conferences took place in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain and online during June 19-20, 2025.
As authors of the publication, “Saporin as a Commercial Reagent: Its Uses and Unexpected Impacts in the Biological Sciences—Tools from the Plant Kingdom,” we were honored to be invited to speak at the conference. Leonardo Ancheta, co-author on the publication, attended the virtual meeting and contributed a presentation titled, “Saporin as the Scalpel in Molecular Surgery to create Models of Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.”
Abstract:
Saporin, a protein derived from Saponaria Officinalis, is a cytotoxic protein that causes irreversible inhibition of protein synthesis due to the removal of a single base from the ribosomal RNA of the large subunit. The absence of a B chain makes saporin incapable to enter a cell on its own and this feature allows it to be used as a potent and effective payload. When saporin is linked to another protein acting as a vehicle/targeting agent, e.g. antibody, lectin, or peptide, the saporin payload acts as a molecular scalpel and can eliminate specific cell types in a way that can mimic diseases. By replicating symptoms or behaviors of these diseases, researchers can study the disease itself, drugs that may treat that disease, or the cell populations responsible for the impacts of those diseases. By manipulating the targeting agent, the location of injection, and dosage of the saporin conjugate to create an animal model, a researcher’s specific goal can be answered with respect to Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and more.
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