Protein found that blocks Alzheimers; cure in ten years

[Grimmlok]

Chemical in brain blocks disease
U of T lab foresees drug in 10 years
Apr. 27, 2006. 05:09 AM
JOSEPH HALL
STAFF REPORTER


University of Toronto researchers have discovered a substance in the brain itself that can stop Alzheimer's disease and could lead to a "clean and direct treatment" for the degenerative disorder within the next decade.

"This is the starting block of something that could be tremendous," says U of T Alzheimer's researcher Dr. Peter St George-Hyslop. "This could be the blueprint for the development of a drug to treat the disease."

Calling it one of the most promising discoveries he's seen during his three decades of work on the disease, St George-Hyslop said the discovery could help create a drug regimen to treat the disorder.

"I think what we're going to have (in the next decade) are medicines that will stop the disease from progressing and I think we will have medicines that will prevent the disease from happening," St George-Hyslop said. "This is one of the key elements that will go into that regime."

The naturally occurring brain protein, which is described in this week's issue of the journal Nature, has been shown to block the creation of a destructive neurotoxin that sets Alzheimer's in motion, St George-Hyslop said.

Known as TPM21, the protein blocks the neurotoxin Abeta, also known as beta-amyloid peptide, which is responsible for the onset of Alzheimer's.

Abeta has been the target of numerous therapies to block its production, said St George-Hyslop, head of the university's Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Those therapies, however, have been too coarse in their actions and have lead to intolerable side effects like encephalitis and the shutdown of a patent's gastrointestinal functions. But TPM21 appears to have no impact on the brain beyond its containment of Abeta production, said St George-Hyslop, who helped lead an international team responsible for the discovery.

"We now have a clean and direct way to inhibit the production of Abeta ... with potentially no side effects," he said in a news release detailing his Nature paper.

While the protein discovery holds much promise for an effective treatment, St George-Hyslop cautioned that it has yet to be tested in animals and that a drug to mimic its antitoxin effects is likely at least five years away.

"Obviously we now need to find a small molecule or a drug that looks like this protein and that does the same thing as this protein," he said.

"But this is a beautiful clue, it's biology doing what we want it to do. And if we're clever enough to make a drug that can mimic biology, then this is very, very promising."

He also said that, like the multiple-drug AIDS cocktail, an Abeta-blocking compound would likely be used in conjunction with other therapies, such as a promising new Alzheimer's vaccine. And like the AIDS cocktail, any Alzheimer's drug therapy would likely require ongoing doses over a patient's lifetime.

Dr. B. Lynn Beattie, chair of the research policy committee for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, cautioned that the disease has an enormously complex biochemistry and that this newly revealed protein represents just one step in the development of the disease.

"But it's an important step because it's a step right at our current understanding of the (origin and development) of this disease," Beattie said.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia in Canada, affecting some five per cent of people over the age of 65. One in four people over the age of 85 have the disease.

"But the field has not been this optimistic for many years," St George-Hyslop said.

[Sojiita]

good! I do not want this disease!

[SVZ]

Go U of T!

[Grimmlok]

Go toronto, go toronto, its your birfday, now you'll be able to remember it..

[darksithbunny]

Yes! Now I can tell my kids NOT to go to Plan A which was to shoot me in the back yard, place a butcher knife in my hand and say that I was ranting about Xenu and Tom Cruise coming to kill them all. whew.

[AliceInWonderland]

YaY i'm soooooooo happy; that disease is truly horrifying; my favorite uncle is dying of it right now and just 2 years ago he was the most fun, funny, intelligent man I ever knew; he was someone who I wished was my father and wondered what the hell he was doing w/ my miserable aunt, he was so awesome and made me and my bitch sister feel so loved and comfortable and special when we were kids and its so unfair the way he's dying like that, so unfair for someone to lose their mind like that, its worse than anything and I hope there is a cure soon.

[Grimmlok]

10 Years... the thing is, once it's stopped can the damage be reversed?

[Delphinium]

my alzheimers escape plan was something along the lines of drive me to death valley, give me a couple of quarters and send me for a coke.

[darksithbunny]

Yeah but you would forget what the hell you were suppose to do with those shiny things in your hand.

[spinmonkey]

I hear you Aliceinwonderland. It is terrible to watch. I recently lost my grandma after she slowly slipped away from us over the course of 20 years. She was the sweetest woman I had ever known and I wish always that I could have had a longer relationship with her as an adult. She could have taught me so much, and enjoyed my children many years, but instead we watched her whither away. It was heartbreaking. I hope this is a cure.