Gladstone researchers identify new drug target for Alzheimer's diseaseDecember 02, 2005Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease have identified a potential new way to stop brain cell death related to Alzheimer's disease. Working with cell cultures, the scientists investigated how amyloid beta proteins, which build up in the brain tissue of people with Alzheimer's disease, kill neurons. The cell cultures were established from brain tissue of laboratory rats. Study findings showed that amyloid beta could be prevented from causing neuronal cell death with a compound called resveratrol, which is also found as a natural ingredient in red wine. "Our study suggests that resveratrol and related compounds may protect against neuronal loss associated with Alzheimer's disease," explains senior author Li Gan, PhD, a staff research investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and an assistant professor of neurology at UC San Francisco. "This could certainly open up new avenues for drug development." The research results are reported in the December 2 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. According to the research team, it was particularly interesting that the beneficial effect of resveratrol was not due to a direct impact on amyloid beta or on neurons but rather on other types of brain cells, called microglia. Microglia are the immune cells of the brain. They can protect or hurt neurons, depending on which of their powerful defense or attack pathways are activated. The investigators found that amyloid beta triggers a pathway in microglia that makes them attack neurons with poisonous chemicals. A key mediator in this pathway is a protein called NF-kB, which resveratrol happens to block. Without resveratrol, amyloid beta activates NF-kB in microglia, turning them into powerful neuron killing machines. Researchers found that, in the presence of resveratrol or of other molecules that blocked NF-kB, microglia were well behaved, and amyloid beta was unable to harm the neurons. The study thus pinpoints NF-ÙB as an important contributor to the destructive power of amyloid beta, making it a key drug target, and it singles out resveratrol as holding the most promise for therapeutic intervention. Gladstone Institutes |
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| Related Alzheimer Disease Current Events and Alzheimer Disease News Articles Delirium in hospitalized adults: Situation critical, no relief available Every year as many as seven million adults in the United States experience delirium during hospitalization. New data demonstrate potential for early detection of Alzheimer's disease Data published in the June issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease demonstrated that minimally-invasive biospectroscopy was able to identify changes in oxidative stress (OS) levels in blood plasma, which may prove to be a useful biomarker in the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Another McGill/JGH breakthrough opens door to early Alzheimer's diagnosis A new diagnostic technique which may greatly simplify the detection of Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by researchers at McGill University and the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital (JGH). Measuring brain atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown that a fully automated procedure called Volumetric MRI - which measures the "memory centers" of the brain and compares them to expected size - is effective in predicting the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease. Commonly used medications may produce cognitive impairment in older adults Many drugs commonly prescribed to older adults for a variety of common medical conditions including allergies, hypertension, asthma, and cardiovascular disease appear to negatively affect the aging brain causing immediate but possibly reversible cognitive impairment, including delirium, in older adults. Commonly used ulcer drugs may offer treatment potential in Alzheimer's disease In a new study, published in the May issue of Elsevier's Experimental Neurology, scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered that drugs commonly used to treat ulcers have significant neuroprotective properties, which appear to be enhanced when used in combination with ibuprofen, a widely used anti-inflammatory drug. New test for mysterious metabolic diseases developed at Stanford/Packard Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a much-needed way to monitor and find treatments for a mysterious and devastating group of metabolic diseases that arise from mutations in cells' fuel-burning mechanism. Recalibrating 'fight or flight' A Canadian/U.S. research team has reported a novel approach to stimulating recovery from chronic stress disorders. Details of the therapeutic model, which exploits the natural dynamics of the body's "fight or flight" system, are published January 23 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology Vitamin B does not slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's A clinical trial led by Paul S. Aisen, M.D., professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, showed that high-dose vitamin B supplements did not slow the rate of cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease. Protecting patient privacy the new fashioned way Protecting patient privacy has been recognized as the duty of health-care providers for about as long as doctors have seen patients. In 1996 that duty became a legal obligation when Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. More Alzheimer Disease Current Events and Alzheimer Disease News Articles |
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