Although the relative importance of β-amyloid plaques and tau protein tangles in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease has been the subject of much debate, early emphasis was placed on the development of drugs to block production of β-amyloid. Although such…
Blog Archives
How Arthritis May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease
Epidemiological studies have suggested that either rheumatoid arthritis itself – or the anti-inflammatory drugs used to control it – are associated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Recent clinical trials with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have failed to…
Study Finds Compounds that Boost Neurogenesis: Possible moa for Dimebon
Following from positive phase II results, the announcement earlier this year that Dimebon (latrepirdine) failed to show a significant effect in a phase III clinical trial in Alzheimer’s patients was a major blow to patients, families and doctors. A study…
Dial M3 for Memory
The cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease patients brought about by treatment with acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors has been largely attributed to enhanced M1-muscarinic receptor signalling. Recently, however, studies with M1-receptor knockout mice and with more selective M1-receptor modulators have suggested that…
How ApoE4 May Increase Alzheimer’s Risk
ApoE is a lipid transport protein with roles in transport of dietary lipids, regulation of plasma cholesterol, and protection from atherosclerosis. In humans, there are three variants of ApoE (ApoE2, ApoE3 and ApoE4) and one of these, ApoE4, has been…
Rapamycin for Azheimer’s patients?
Two recent reports from the University of Texas Health Science Center suggest that rapamycin may find a new use in treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The first study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, showed that treatment with rapamycin reduced…
Challenging the Role of PI3 Kinase in Alzheimer’s
Conventional wisdom, supported by in vitro experiments, has previously suggested that phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) plays a protective role in Alzheimer’s disease. However, a team led by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor has now implicated PI3K in the pathogenesis of the…
Neuroprotective Small Molecule TrkB Agonist
Roles have been suggested for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – which helps to support neurons and also stimulates and controls neurogenesis – in preventing or treating degenerative diseases such amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. The use of…
Three New Kinase Targets for Alzheimer’s Disease
Neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and correlate strongly with synaptic loss and severity of dementia. NFT appear to be attributable, at least in part, to hyperphosphorylation of the microtubule-stabilising protein, tau. Numerous phosphorylation sites have…
Glimepiride Potential for Treatment of Prion Diseases
Prion diseases comprise the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, including scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, “Mad Cow” disease) in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Central to these diseases is the conversion of normal cellular prion protein (PrPc) into the…
