This could help find treatments for Alzheimer's dementia and even Parkinson's disease.
. Research has been ongoing on ways to prevent the accumulation of the protein in the first place to prevent the disease or remove it using certain drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier. However, this strategy has had very little success so far.Researchers at WUSTL were studying the basic process of how proteins are made inside the cell when they noticed that proteins do not follow these processes to the letter.
WUSTL researchers studied a brain protein called aquaporin 4 when they noticed this readthrough on some proteins. At first, they dismissed it as poor quality control on the part of the cellular machinery. However, when they compared the gene sequences for the protein across species, they found that it was conserved, the scientific term for broadly similar. Even more striking, it was only found in structures that were important for waste clearance.
The researchers then tested these two compounds for their ability to clear beta amyloids from the brains of mice genetically modified to have high protein levels. Both these substances could remove beta-amyloid from mice brains faster than control liquids that the researchers used in their experiments.
This is the beginning of the research, and more work must be done before it is used as a treatment or prevention. The findings of the study were published in the journalAlzheimer’s disease is initiated by the toxic aggregation of amyloid-β. Immunotherapeutics aimed at reducing amyloid beta are in clinical trials but with very limited success to date. Identification of orthogonal approaches for clearing amyloid beta may complement these approaches for treating Alzheimer’s disease.
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