NYU Langone scientists identify promising therapeutic target for Alzheimer

NYU Langone scientists identify promising therapeutic target for Alzheimer -

NYU Langone researchers identify promising treatment target molecule in mouse studies

scientists Langone NYU Medical Center have identified a compound called 2-PMAP, in animal studies which reduced by more than half the levels of amyloid proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers hope that one day a treatment based on the molecule could be used to ward off the neurodegenerative disease because it can be safe enough to be taken daily for many years.

"What we want in a preventive Alzheimer's disease is a drug that slightly lowers amyloid beta and is also safe for long term use," said Martin J. Sadowski, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology, psychiatry and biochemistry and molecular pharmacology, who led the research published time:. June 3 in the journal Annals of neurology "Statins that lower cholesterol seem to have these properties and have made a big impact in the prevention of diseases of the coronary artery. That's basically what many of us plan for the future of medicine for Alzheimer's disease. "

The molecule-2 PMAP the team identified Dr. Sadowski is nontoxic in mice , easily gets into the brain, and reduces the production of beta-amyloid and amyloid deposits associated.

target for the prevention of Alzheimer's beta amyloid. decades before early dementia, this small protein accumulates in clumps in the brain. Modestly lowering beta amyloid production in middle age, and eliminating some of the burden of brain natural clearance mechanisms, is considered good prevention strategy. researchers there two years ago reported that something like that occurs naturally in about 0.5 percent of Icelanders, due to a mutation they carry that halved approximately beta production -amyloid in life. These wealthy individuals show a slower cognitive decline in old age, live longer, and almost never Alzheimer's disease.

Prevention of Alzheimer's disease is now considered easier than stopping after it began, when brain damage is already severe. Each prospective Alzheimer drugs in clinical trials did not even slow the disease process at this late stage. "The key is to prevent the disease process to go that far," said Dr. Sadowski.

Dr. Sadowski and colleagues screened a library of compounds and found that 2- PMAP reduces the production of the parent protein beta-amyloid, called amyloid precursor protein (APP). the APA protein is normally cut by the enzymes in a manner that leaves the amyloid-beta as one of the fragments . the team of Dr. Sadowski found that 2-PMAP, even at low concentrations, non-toxic, significantly reduces the APP production in the test cells, lowering the levels of beta-amyloid 50 percent or more.

the scientists then found that 2- PMAP had essentially the same impact on APP and beta amyloid in the brains of live mice. the mice were designed to have the same genetic mutations found in the Alzheimer's patients with an inherited form of the disease, which causes an overproduction of APP and amyloid deposits as Alzheimer. A five-day treatment with 2-PMAP lowered levels of brain APP and, even more, the levels of beta-amyloid. Four months of treatment have greatly reduced amyloid and prevented cognitive deficits that are normally seen in these transgenic mice as they age.

Dr. Sadowski and his laboratory are working to make chemical modifications to the compound to improve its effectiveness. But 2-PMAP already seems to have advantages over other amyloid lowering compounds, he said. One is that it can effectively cross the blood circulation to the brain, and therefore does not require complex changes that could jeopardize its effects on APP.

The compound also appears to have a very selective effect on APP production by interfering with the translation of the transcription of the APP gene in the APP protein itself. The best-known candidates for prophylactic Alzheimer amyloid lower by inhibiting secretase enzymes that cleave amyloid beta from APP, which tends to cause undesirable side effects, through their large target interference with the treatment other client proteins cleaved by these enzymes. A clinical trial of a secretase inhibitor was discontinued in 2010 after he was found worsen dementia and cause a higher incidence of skin cancer.

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, currently afflicts over five million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Unless preventive medicines or treatments are developed, should the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease to triple by 2050.