New Compound Shows Promise in Treatment of Alzheimer's

YaleNews has learned that Yale University researchers have identified a drinkable cocktail of designer molecules that interferes with a crucial first step of Alzheimer's and even restores memories in mice. They reported their findings Jan. 2 in the journal Cell Reports . According to the team's research, the binding of amyloid beta peptides to prion proteins triggers a cascade of devastating events in the progression of Alzheimer's — everything from the accumulation of plaques to a destructive immune system response to damage to synapses. Senior author Stephen Strittmatter, director of the Yale Alzheimer Disease Research Center, remarks, "We wanted to find molecules that might have a therapeutic effect on this network." Strittmatter teamed with research scientist Erik Gunther to screen tens of thousands of compounds, searching for molecules that might interfere with the damaging prion protein interaction with amyloid beta. They determined that an old antibiotic looked like a promising candidate. But it was only active after decomposing to form a polymer. Retaining the benefit were related small polymers that also managed to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Strittmatter and Gunther then dissolved the optimized polymeric compound and fed it to mice engineered to have a condition that mimics Alzheimer's. Their findings show that synapses in the brains were repaired and mice recovered lost memory.