Discovery of a molecule that slows down Alzheimer’s. The Italian study
A joint study between the Carlo Besta Neurological Institute and the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research has discovered a molecule capable of curbing Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia in old age and today incurable. All the details, data and forecasts on the disease in Italy and in the world
Inhibiting the neurotoxic effects of the two proteins that cause Alzheimer's seems to be the way forward to curb a disease that our country unfortunately knows well.
Italy is, in fact, the eighth state in the world most affected by dementia. More than one million and 400 thousand cases have been diagnosed, 600 thousand of which are Alzheimer's alone, as Start recalled some time ago, citing the data of the European Brain Research Institute (Ebri) foundation in Rome, established by Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Now, a group of Italian researchers belonging to the IRCCS Carlo Besta Neurological Institute Foundation, in collaboration with colleagues from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, has taken a further step forward.
WHAT THEY DISCOVERED
The joint study , published in Nature 's Molecular Psychiatry journal, reveals promising results for the development of an early-stage disease treatment strategy.
In particular, researchers have identified the molecule capable of curbing Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia in old age that is still incurable.
THE MOLECULE
This molecule, the 'magic bullet' that science has been looking for for years, is a small peptide that, when administered intranasally, proved effective in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease and inhibited the toxic effects of one of the two proteins – la beta-amyloid protein and tau protein – which cause the disease.
THE PREVIOUS THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES
The therapeutic approaches explored so far by the international scientific community, the Negri Institute know, unfortunately have not yet led to the identification of a compound capable of effectively combating the disease, if not even preventing it.
However, the results of decades of scientific research have shown that preventing or slowing the formation of aggregates of the two proteins, which play a fundamental role in this form of dementia, is not enough to defeat the disease.
For this, the researchers deduced that it is important to simultaneously inhibit the neurotoxic effects of these two proteins.
THE NEWS
The new strategy developed by the researchers to combat Alzheimer's is based on an earlier discovery by the same authors who identified a natural variant of the beta amyloid protein that protects carriers from developing the disease: this allowed to synthesize the molecule (a small fragment formed by 6 amino acids) used in the study.
HOW THE MOLECULE WORKS
"The experiments – explained Dr. Fabrizio Tagliavini and Dr. Giuseppe Di Fede, Besta neurologists who conducted the study – showed that the intranasal administration of the peptide, in an early phase of the disease, is effective in protecting the synapses by the neurotoxic effects of beta-amyloid as well as inhibiting the formation of aggregates of the same protein, responsible for much of the brain damage in Alzheimer's, and slowing the deposition of beta-amyloid in the form of plaques in the brain ".
COLLATERAL EVENTS: NOT RECEIVED
“Furthermore, – they added – the treatment does not seem to induce side events deriving from an abnormal activation of the immune system, found in other potential treatments for Alzheimer's. These multiple effects therefore constitute an apparently winning combination in hindering the development of the disease in mice ”.
COSTS OF PRODUCTION
But there is another good news. "The further advantages of this strategy – observed Dr. Mario Salmona, biochemist of the Mario Negri Institute – concern the low production costs of the small peptide, compared to the very high costs of other potential therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer's such as monoclonal antibodies. , the simplicity and low invasiveness of intranasal treatment, which has already been successfully used for other categories of drugs ".
DATA ON THE DIFFUSION OF THE ALZHEIMER
The numbers on Alzheimer's are already worrying but the forecasts, even more negative, for the future attract the attention of experts. As the authors of the study in Nature also recall, the aging of the world population can only aggravate the situation.
This disease, the article reads , “affects 6 million people in the European Union and over 30 million individuals worldwide. These figures are expected to increase substantially with the rapid aging of the world population ”.
And according to research by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington, published in The Lancet , in Italy the number of people with dementia is set to increase by 56% by 2050, when there will be 2,316 people with dementia. 951.
In the world, however, the forecast is 139 million by 2050.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/scoperta-una-molecola-che-rallenta-alzheimer-lo-studio-italiano/ on Mon, 12 Sep 2022 13:25:55 +0000.