by Kelly Stone
A drug discovery by Adelaide and Chinese scientists could hold promise in the fight against the devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease.
Scientists from the University of South Australia, along with colleagues from Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, have discovered the drug Edaravone can alleviate the progressive cognitive deficits of Alzheimer's Disease, a major social and economic burden worldwide.
The discovery has been published today in one of the world's most cited multidisciplinary scientific journals, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Edaravone is currently available only in some Asian countries for the treatment of ischemic stroke – the most common type of stroke which is caused by blood clots.
Lead researcher Professor Xin-Fu Zhou, who is UniSA's Research Chair in Neurosciences, says Edaravone can alleviate Alzheimer's Disease pathologies and improve functions of learning and memory – in a mouse model of the disease – by multiple mechanisms.
"Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells," Prof Zhou says.
Prof Zhou says lessons from failures of current clinical trials suggest that targeting multiple key pathways of the Alzheimer's Disease pathogenesis is necessary to halt the disease progression.
"Edaravone can suppress the toxic functions of amyloid beta to nerve cells – it is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration," he says.
"The drug can suppress the production of amyloid beta by inhibiting the amyloid beta production enzyme. It also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions."
The research is a collaboration between Prof Zhou's lab within UniSA's Sansom Institute for Health Research and School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, and labs led by Prof Yanjiang Wang in Chongqing, China.
The researchers stress Edaravone should not be used for Alzheimer's patients before appropriate clinical trials are undertaken. Prof Zhou is seeking investment and partnership opportunities to further the research.
Explore further: Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
More information: "Edaravone alleviates Alzheimer's disease-type pathologies and cognitive deficits." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201422998. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1422998112
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
A new study from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has revealed that a single dose of an immunotherapy reverses memory problems in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. The article appears in the March ...
In Alzheimer's mice, memory restored with cancer drug
Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of ...
Brain receptor cell could be new target for Alzheimer's
Blocking a key receptor in brain cells that is used by oxygen free radicals could play a major role in neutralizing the biological consequences of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University.
Can caffeine be used to treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease?
The proposed link between caffeine and reductions in the beta amyloid plaque accumulation characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggest a possible role for caffeine in AD treatment. The latest evidence ...
New Alzheimer's research suggests possible cause: The interaction of proteins in the brain
For years, Alzheimer's researchers have focused on two proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and may contribute to the disease: plaques made up of the protein amyloid-beta, and tangles of another ...
Recommended for you
Scientists discover new treatment for dementia
Pushing new frontiers in dementia research, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found a new way to treat dementia by sending electrical impulses to specific areas of ...
Beta secretase inhibitors to treat Alzheimer's disease
With each new amyloid-targeting treatment for Alzheimer's disease that has been developed, there has been a corresponding concern. For example, antibodies targeting amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) produce inflammation ...
In Alzheimer's mice, memory restored with cancer drug
Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of ...
Alzheimer's study on women at risk suggests functional decline relates to deteriorating brain wiring
In their latest brain imaging study on women at risk for Alzheimer's disease, York University researchers have found deterioration in the pathways that serve to communicate signals between different brain regions needed for ...
Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
A new study from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has revealed that a single dose of an immunotherapy reverses memory problems in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. The article appears in the March ...
Researchers help create 'gold standard' method for measuring an early sign of Alzheimer's
After six years of painstaking research, a UCLA-led team has validated the first standardized protocol for measuring one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease—the atrophy of the part of the brain ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
by Kelly Stone
A drug discovery by Adelaide and Chinese scientists could hold promise in the fight against the devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease.
Scientists from the University of South Australia, along with colleagues from Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, have discovered the drug Edaravone can alleviate the progressive cognitive deficits of Alzheimer's Disease, a major social and economic burden worldwide.
The discovery has been published today in one of the world's most cited multidisciplinary scientific journals, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Edaravone is currently available only in some Asian countries for the treatment of ischemic stroke – the most common type of stroke which is caused by blood clots.
Lead researcher Professor Xin-Fu Zhou, who is UniSA's Research Chair in Neurosciences, says Edaravone can alleviate Alzheimer's Disease pathologies and improve functions of learning and memory – in a mouse model of the disease – by multiple mechanisms.
"Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells," Prof Zhou says.
Prof Zhou says lessons from failures of current clinical trials suggest that targeting multiple key pathways of the Alzheimer's Disease pathogenesis is necessary to halt the disease progression.
"Edaravone can suppress the toxic functions of amyloid beta to nerve cells – it is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration," he says.
"The drug can suppress the production of amyloid beta by inhibiting the amyloid beta production enzyme. It also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions."
The research is a collaboration between Prof Zhou's lab within UniSA's Sansom Institute for Health Research and School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, and labs led by Prof Yanjiang Wang in Chongqing, China.
The researchers stress Edaravone should not be used for Alzheimer's patients before appropriate clinical trials are undertaken. Prof Zhou is seeking investment and partnership opportunities to further the research.
Explore further: Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
More information: "Edaravone alleviates Alzheimer's disease-type pathologies and cognitive deficits." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201422998. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1422998112
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
A new study from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has revealed that a single dose of an immunotherapy reverses memory problems in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. The article appears in the March ...
In Alzheimer's mice, memory restored with cancer drug
Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of ...
Brain receptor cell could be new target for Alzheimer's
Blocking a key receptor in brain cells that is used by oxygen free radicals could play a major role in neutralizing the biological consequences of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University.
Can caffeine be used to treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease?
The proposed link between caffeine and reductions in the beta amyloid plaque accumulation characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggest a possible role for caffeine in AD treatment. The latest evidence ...
New Alzheimer's research suggests possible cause: The interaction of proteins in the brain
For years, Alzheimer's researchers have focused on two proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and may contribute to the disease: plaques made up of the protein amyloid-beta, and tangles of another ...
Recommended for you
Scientists discover new treatment for dementia
Pushing new frontiers in dementia research, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found a new way to treat dementia by sending electrical impulses to specific areas of ...
Beta secretase inhibitors to treat Alzheimer's disease
With each new amyloid-targeting treatment for Alzheimer's disease that has been developed, there has been a corresponding concern. For example, antibodies targeting amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) produce inflammation ...
In Alzheimer's mice, memory restored with cancer drug
Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored in mice with a model of Alzheimer's given an experimental cancer drug, Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of ...
Alzheimer's study on women at risk suggests functional decline relates to deteriorating brain wiring
In their latest brain imaging study on women at risk for Alzheimer's disease, York University researchers have found deterioration in the pathways that serve to communicate signals between different brain regions needed for ...
Scientists use immunotherapy to reduce memory problems with Alzheimer's disease
A new study from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has revealed that a single dose of an immunotherapy reverses memory problems in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. The article appears in the March ...
Researchers help create 'gold standard' method for measuring an early sign of Alzheimer's
After six years of painstaking research, a UCLA-led team has validated the first standardized protocol for measuring one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease—the atrophy of the part of the brain ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here
to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
0 comments:
Post a Comment