A potential cure for three neurodegenerative diseases
An American pharmaceutical company has developed a cure for Alzheimer's disease based on the virus
Daria Kirilenko, Vademecum
American researchers have announced the successful completion of preclinical trials of the drug for several neurodegenerative diseases at once – Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases.
The results of the work of scientists from the American pharmaceutical company NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals are published in the scientific journal Journal of Molecular Biology.
The active ingredient of a potential drug that can help from three serious diseases at once is the protein of the outer shell (capsid) of the bacteriophage M13, a virus that multiplies in microorganisms. M13 was first discovered in drainpipes by German researchers 50 years ago.
Earlier, scientists from NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals showed the effectiveness of their drug in vitro (on cell cultures), and now they have published positive results of a study on mice. The protein of the bacteriophage M13, according to the developers, acts on one of the chains of amino acids common to beta-amyloid (a protein whose accumulation, according to one hypothesis, is the cause of the development of Alzheimer's disease), tau protein (accumulating in Parkinson's disease) and prions (the causes of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
Source: NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals – VM.
At the same time, as the researchers explain, the proteins that accumulate in these diseases have an irregular spatial structure. That is why the studied drug can affect pathological proteins, but does not affect their normal form.
In the course of the work, it was found that mice with Alzheimer's disease had the destruction of amyloid plaques, which, with the development of the disease, destroy the shell of neurons, which leads to their death. In addition, the drug also affected another type of cluster – neurofibrillary tangles, which, according to one hypothesis, provoke the development of Alzheimer's disease. "There is no other drug yet that could attack all types of plaques at the same time," Richard Fisher, a leading researcher at NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals, explained at the annual International Conference of the Alzheimer's Association (see Neurophage's NPT088 press release Universally Targets Misfolded Proteins in Preclinical Studies Highlighted in Oral Session at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference – VM).
In the near future, the researchers hope to begin clinical trials of the drug with the participation of patients.
NeuroPhage Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company that was founded in 2008. The company develops drugs for neurodegenerative diseases and at the very beginning of its activity received $50 million of investments from Shire, the French investment fund Merieux Developement and private investors.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
21.07.2015