An enzyme called GAPDH is believed to play a major role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. A component of aspirin can bind to GAPDH and block cell death associated with these neurodegenerative diseases, revealed a new study.

Study co-author Solomon Snyder, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said, "The enzyme GAPDH, long thought to function solely in glucose metabolism, is now known to participate in intra-cellular signaling. The new study establishes that GAPDH is a target for salicylate drugs related to aspirin and hence may be relevant to the therapeutic actions of such drugs."

Salicylic acid is the primary breakdown product of aspirin. Klessig explained, "A better understanding of how salicylic acid and its derivatives regulate the activities of the key protein can lead to the development of new and better salicylic acid-based treatments of a wide variety of devastating diseases."