New York: There’s good news for Alzheimer’s patients.
Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have discovered a new way to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, which shows “dramatic reductions” in neurodegeneration.
The tests, conducted on mice, revealed significant and promising results.
Using a peptide or string of amino acids, the researchers were able to interfere with an enzyme that is typically overactive in the brains of people with the disease. The chemical compounds blocked the hyperactive version of an enzyme called CDK5, leading to significant reductions in neurodegeneration and DNA damage in the brain.
“This peptide has the ability to enter the brain and in a couple of different models, the peptide shows protective effects against loss of neurons and also appears to be able to rescue some of the behavioural deficits,” author Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, told New York Post.
The researchers hope that with further testing, the peptide could be used as treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia that have CDK5 overactivation.
According to a report released by MIT, the peptide doesn’t interfere with CDK1, an enzyme structurally similar to CDK5, and it is similar in size to other peptide drugs that are used in clinical applications.
“CDK5 is activated by a smaller protein that it interacts with, known as P35. When P35 binds to CDK5, the enzyme’s structure changes, allowing it to phosphorylate – add a phosphate molecule to – its targets. However, in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, P35 is cleaved into a smaller protein called P25, which can also bind to CDK5 but has a longer half-life than P35,” the report added.
The scientists said that peptide treatment also produced dramatic improvements in a different mouse model of Alzheimer’s.
The researchers also analysed changes in gene expression that occur in mouse neurons following treatment with the peptide.
