Thursday, May 7, 2009

Trial drugs 'reverse' Alzheimer's

US scientists say they have successfully reversed the effects of Alzheimer's with experimental drugs.
  • The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation.
  • In mice, the treatment helped restore long-term memory and improve learning for new tasks, Nature reports.
  • The same drugs - HDAC inhibitors - are currently being tested to treat Huntington's disease and are on the market to treat some cancers.
  • They reshape the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the brain.
  • The Alzheimer's gene the drugs act upon, histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), regulates the expression of a plethora of genes implicated in plasticity - the brain's ability to change in response to experience - and memory formation.
  • This findings build on the team's 2007 breakthrough in which mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease regained long-term memories and the ability to learn.
  • Lead researcher Professor Li-Huei Tsai explained: "It brings about long-lasting changes in how other genes are expressed, which is probably necessary to increase numbers of synapses and restructure neural circuits, thereby enhancing memory.
  • "To our knowledge, HDAC inhibitors have not been used to treat Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
  • "But now that we know that inhibiting HDAC2 has the potential to boost synaptic plasticity, synapse formation and memory formation.
  • "In the next step, we will develop new HDAC2-selective inhibitors and test their function for human diseases associated with memory impairment to treat neurodegenerative diseases."

Future hope

  • HDAC inhibitor treatment for humans with Alzheimer's disease is still a decade or more away, she said.
  • The chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, Rebecca Wood, said: "This is promising research which improves our understanding of memory loss in Alzheimer's.
  • "We need to do more research to investigate whether developing treatments that control this gene could benefit people with Alzheimer's.
  • "We desperately need to fund more research to head off a forecast doubling the UK population living with dementia."
  • Julie Williams, an expert in the genetics of Alzheimer's for the trust, said scientists were on the brink of finding a number of candidate genes that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's.
  • "If we can find the triggers and causes then we can hopefully prevent them. That is the great ambition."

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