‘Dementia link to sudden low blood pressure and dizziness’
October 13, 2024
A breakthrough by British scientists has been hailed as a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
The landmark study also raises the prospect of new drugs for other brain conditions, including Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.
It may even be possible to create one pill that treats several diseases.
A breakthrough by British scientists has been hailed as a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease
A breakthrough by British scientists has been hailed as a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease
The work is still at a very early stage but is described as the first real evidence that it is possible to use a drug to stop diseased brain cells from dying.
Professor Roger Morris, of King’s College London, said: ‘This finding, I suspect, will be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.’
In Alzheimer’s disease, which affects some 500,000 Britons, brains are clogged up by a sticky, ‘mis-folded’ protein.
Most scientists are trying to find drugs that break up the toxic protein and clear it form the brain but the latest study, from scientists funded by the Medical Research Council, tackled the problem in a different way.
Rather than trying to declog the brain, the scientists looked at how mis-folded proteins damage it.
In much the same way as a deck-chair needs to be opened up in a certain way to sit on it, the proteins in our cells have to be folded in a certain way if they are to work properly.
The work is still at a very early stage but is described as the first real evidence that it is possible to use a drug to stop diseased cells from dying. Image shows the structural abnormalities of Alzheimer’s
Research on mice showed that misshapen proteins do not directly kill brain cells.
Instead, cells die because in a misguided attempt to protect themselves they stop making new proteins – including some vital for their survival.
The researchers showed it is possible to give mice a drug that switches protein production back on – and stops brain disease in its tracks.
Treated mice stayed symptom-free, while untreated animals developed memory and movement problems and eventually died, the journal Science Translational Medicine reports.
Lead scientist Giovanna Mallucci, of the University of Leicester, said: ‘It was very striking. The treated mice were completely protected.
‘More importantly, their brains were completely protected.’
The tests were on the mis-folded brain protein that causes scrapie. But it is thought a similar process is behind several other brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, motor neurone and Parkinson’s diseases.
However, the drug had severe side-effects and any new treatments for people are at least a decade away.
Professor Hugh Perry, chairman of the MRC’s neuroscience and mental health board, said: ‘Despite the toxicity of the compound used, this study indicates that, in mice at least, we have proof of principle of a therapeutic pathway that can be targeted.
‘This might eventually aid the development of drugs to treat people suffering from dementias and other devastating neurodegenerative diseases.’
Dr Eric Karran, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘Targeting a mechanism relevant to a number of degenerative diseases could yield a single drug with wide-reaching benefits.
‘However, what is true in animals does not always hold true in people and the ultimate test for this compound will be to see whether it is safe and effective in people with these diseases.’
Source Mail Online