Kill in the bud
Scientists have found out at what stage of the development of the disease dementia can be cured
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
Dementia and its most common form – Alzheimer's disease – is considered an incurable neurodegenerative disease that develops in humans for decades without any symptoms. Now scientists have discovered the earliest stage in the development of the disease, when treatment can defeat the disease. And the first results of the new therapeutic approach have already been obtained.
Article by Uhlmann et al. Acute targeting of pre-amyloid seeds in transgenic mice reduces Alzheimer-like pathology later in life is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience – VM.
The main sign of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of proteins toxic to neurons in the brain. This process is developing very slowly. It is believed that from the moment of the first pathological processes to the appearance of external symptoms in the form of memory disorders, about 20 years pass, and possibly more. Now scientists from Germany have literally discovered the beginnings of the development of the disease, which begin much earlier than is commonly believed.
Their discovery means that in addition to the already well-known early phase of the disease, which is manifested by protein aggregations in the brain, there is an earlier phase preceding irreversible pathological changes, according to the findings of the study on the website of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (The Long Road to Dementia).
In other words, scientists have traced the process that occurs in the brain before improperly folded proteins begin to form aggregations around neurons in a chain reaction. So far, their results have been obtained in mouse models, but if the results are confirmed in humans, the treatment will be able to defeat the disease, they believe.
Scientists have already identified an antibody that can potentially cope with this initial stage of Alzheimer's disease.
The human monoclonal antibody aducanumab, targeting beta-amyloid proteins, has shown efficacy in early trials in rodents. If they were treated just five days before the appearance of the first protein deposits in the brain, then at a later age, only half of the usual number of protein aggregations were diagnosed in mice.
"Antibody therapy probably removes the seeds of aggregation, and the formation of new clusters takes quite a long time, so that less toxic clusters form within weeks and months after treatment," commented study co–author Mathias Juker.
The current difficulty of the experiments remains the uncertainty regarding the structure of these "seeds" of aggregation. So far, scientists are aware of their existence and, based on the results of experiments, they see that antibody treatment is effective. In further stages of research, they plan to identify more types of antibodies so that they can recognize different types of "seeds", which are probably diverse.
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