J Alzheimer disea: finding a new way to treat Alzheimer's disease

February 21, 2019 / BIOON / - researchers have recently discovered an enzyme and a biochemical signaling pathway, which they believe will lead to the discovery of drugs that can inhibit the production of beta amyloid, the main cause of Alzheimer's disease Photo source: https://stock.tuchong.com Alzheimer's is characterized by beta amyloid, accumulation of tau fibers, and loss of neurons in the brain At present, the FDA has not approved any drugs to effectively prevent Alzheimer's disease After screening more than 75000 small molecules, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University found that a small molecule can inhibit the production of beta amyloid protein in cells cultured in a dish "But more importantly, we found that the target of these molecules is an enzyme and a biochemical signal pathway, which we can inhibit to reduce the production of amyloid." Carmela Abraham, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at BUSM, the study's co-author, said Researchers say inhibitors of this pathway are also anticancer drugs, another example of the intersection of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases The researchers are optimistic that their research provides a new way to delay or even prevent the formation of beta amyloid "We urgently need drugs that can treat or even prevent Alzheimer's disease We need further research to improve our small molecules, which will help produce drugs that can help millions of people who are at risk of Alzheimer's disease " Reference materials: CI Di Chen et al, small molecular amino - β protein precursor processing modulators lower amino - β peptide levels via ckit signaling, Journal of Alzheimer's disease (2019) Doi: 10.3233/jad-180923