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Sat 30 Oct, 2004 12:41 am
Molecule offers Alzheimer's hope
The development of a molecule which appears to stop a protein forming into clumps could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, scientists say.
The onset of the disease has been linked to plaques which form when fragments of the protein, amyloid-beta, gather into clumps in the brain.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University researchers say lab tests show the molecule stops this.
They told the journal Science they hope to begin tests on animals next year.
Little progress
Despite 30 years of research, scientists have made little progress in developing drugs that inhibit interactions between proteins.
This is, in part, because the drug molecules are many times smaller than the proteins, so even if they can attach themselves to the larger molecules they are too small to prevent other proteins binding elsewhere.
We hope that our work will contribute to the development of therapeutic agents that will eventually prevent Alzheimer's, or delay its onset.
Dr Isabella Graef
The latest study got round this problem by creating a molecule that was able to attach itself to another protein found in the brain cells.
Thus the molecule was effectively able to increase its size 15-fold before binding to the amyloid-beta protein fragments - greatly reducing the ability of other fragments to gain a foothold.
As a result, the molecule proved effective at reducing protein clumping at concentrations 100 times lower than other blocking agents that have been tested.
It also seemed to reduce the toxicity of the rogue protein to nerve cells.
Researcher Dr Isabella Graef told BBC News it was possible that the molecule could be modified to attach itself to even larger 'chaperone' proteins, so that its bulk would be increased 50-fold.
At present the work has only been carried out in the lab, but Dr Graef said the team hoped animal tests would start in a year......
Full BBC Report here
Hope it leads somewhere - and fast...
Here are some Alzheimers sites and related stories - if anyone is interested: (Mainly UK)
Alzheimers Research Trust:
http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/
Alzheimers Society:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
BBC article on the diseaes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/1079432.stm
Dancing 'wards off dementia'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3006130.stm
People who exercise their mind are less likely to develop dementia
Scientists have come up with yet more evidence to suggest that keeping the brain active can ward off senile dementia.
Researchers in the United States have found that dancing, playing musical instruments, reading and playing board games can all reduce the risks of developing the condition.
The findings back up previous studies which have suggested that doing crosswords or learning a new language have a similar protective effect.
Dementia affects an estimated 700,000 people living in Britain. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.
Lifestyle factors
Dr Joe Verghese and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York carried out their study on 469 people over the age of 75.
At the start of the study, none of these people were living in nursing homes and none had dementia.
This research confirms the 'use it or lose it' school of thought
Susanne Sorensen,
Alzheimer's Society
Five years later, more than a quarter had developed dementia.
The researchers examined each person's lifestyle to see if they engaged in physical or mental activity.
They found no link between physical activity and a reduced risk of dementia.
People who exercised a lot were still at risk of developing the condition.
However, they did find a link between mental activity and a reduced risk of dementia.
People who exercised their brains were less likely to develop the condition.
Brain exercise
In addition, the more challenging the activity the less likely they were to develop dementia.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers said: "Reading, playing board games, playing musical instruments and dancing were associated with a reduced risk of dementia."
They added: "Participation in leisure activities is associated with a reduced risk of dementia."
They said further studies are needed to examine how mental activity wards off dementia.
Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, welcomed the study.
"This research confirms the 'use it or lose it' school of thought which provides evidence that complex and precise brain activity can build up a brain reserve that may protect people from Alzheimer's disease in later life.
"However, static mental exercise alone is not enough - the well being and improved general health that comes from many physical activities bring added benefits in preventing cardiovascular disease and falls."
She added: "Maintaining physical activity has been linked to better general health as people get older, preventing cardiovascular disease and falls and this research should not be taken as an recommendation to concentrate on cerebral exercise only."
Hope for Alzheimer's Vaccine
Alzheimer's is linked with changes in mood and behaviour
Scientists are developing a vaccine which could treat Alzheimer's disease.
Injecting antibodies into mice was found to prevent the build-up of the brain-clogging plaques characteristic of the disease.
University of California at Irvine researchers also found it stopped "tangles" of another protein forming within brain cells.
UK experts said the research, published in the journal Neuron, showed this kind of treatment had "enormous potential".
This is very exciting and further emphasises the enormous potential of this type of approach
Dr Clive Ballard, Alzheimer's Society
In Alzheimer's disease, deposits of a protein called beta amyloid (Ab) form in the brain.
There is a theory that this then leads to the development of tangles of another protein, tau, which destroy brain cells from the inside.
In this study, researchers looked at mice which had been genetically modified so they had human genes, allowing them to develop the plaques.
They administered anti-beta-amyloid antibodies into the mice's hippocampus - a part of the brain involved in learning and memory.
It was found that the plaques cleared within three days.
The researchers also looked at tau tangles, which were found to have cleared two days after the plaques had been destroyed.
When the mice were examined a third time, 30 days after the treatment, the plaques had started to reform, but the tau tangles had not - suggesting they occurred at a later stage in the process than the formation of amyloid plaques.
To check this, the researchers gave the mice a drug that blocked the action of an enzyme which is key to producing the Ab protein. They found doing this also led to the clearance of tau.........
Full story here;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3534942.stm
Work 'may ward off Alzheimer's'
An estimated 700,000 Britons have dementia
People who have mentally demanding jobs may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life, a study suggests.
Researchers in the United States examined 357 people over the age of 60. Of these, 122 had Alzheimer's.
They looked at their employment records and the work they did between their 20s and 50s.
Writing in the journal Neurology, they said overall those with Alzheimer's had less mentally demanding careers.
The study found that most people had jobs with about the same level of mental demands when they were in their 20s.
This is the most rigorous study of its type
Professor Clive Ballard,
Alzheimer's Society
However, this changed in later years. Those who did not have Alzheimer's went on to do more mentally demanding jobs.
Those who went on to be diagnosed with the disease did not. They were more likely to spend their working lives in physical jobs and the mental demands of their jobs did not change significantly over the decades.........
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3548682.stm
Boy, the anti beta amyloid antibody sounds very interesting.
Oh, I'm just wondering if the antibody tag makes the amyloid more attractive to something like macrophages, though I guess you don't see macrophages crossing brain barrier (haven't read the link, er, I am supposed to be working...)
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