Not only Covid, a monoclonal against Alzheimer’s
Cnr, Irccs Fondazione S. Lucia and Fondazione Ebri have shown how a monoclonal antibody determines significant improvements in the main alterations produced by Alzheimer's
With the pandemic, we often hear about monoclonal antibodies to fight Covid but now one has been identified that could act against Alzheimer's.
Here is what says a study coordinated by the Institute of Complex Systems and the Institute of Translational Pharmacology of the CNR , carried out in collaboration with Irccs Fondazione S. Lucia and Fondazione Ebri .
ALTERATION OF PROTEIN TAU
Among the main neuropathological processes responsible for Alzheimer's disease, the experts write, the alteration of the protein Tau, which tends to accumulate in the brains of patients suffering from this pathology and to increase as the disease progresses, is of great importance.
THE MONOCLONAL THAT COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The study showed the efficacy of the 12A12 monoclonal antibody against this process. Roberto Coccurello of Cnr-Isc explained that according to the research, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, "the 12A12 monoclonal antibody acts against a toxic fragment that is generated in the pathological Tau protein, and in doing so produces a clear improvement and a regression of some cognitive memory deficits, such as spatial or recognition, as well as of the most serious and important neuropathological alterations present in this disease ".
This antibody was developed by the research group coordinated by Pietro Calissano, long-time collaborator of the Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini, at the Ebri Foundation.
I STUDY
But the importance of the results achieved is also given by the way in which they were obtained. "In the study – continues Coccurello – a non-genetic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease was used, which as such reproduces the wide range of neuropathological characteristics present in humans in the non-hereditary form of the disease, a form that represents about 95% of the totality of Alzheimer's diagnoses ".
THE RESULTS
"By administering the 12A12 monoclonal antibody, which neutralizes the altered Tau protein, for three weeks in mouse models of Alzheimer's, we were able to demonstrate a significant recovery of cognitive memory deficits, a reduction of Beta amyloid (another protein whose accumulation in the brain characterizes the 'Alzheimer) and a reestablishment of molecular mechanisms linked to the action of insulin in the brain, which then favored reparative processes both in the mitochondria and in oxidative stress ”, said Giuseppina Amadoro of Cnr-Ift.
THE LINK BETWEEN DIABETES AND ALZHEIMER
A toxin that induces diabetes was also studied since "scientific data show that the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's is higher in diabetic subjects with glycemic instability and that an alteration of insulin function in the brain can trigger a series of neuropathological processes that follow what has been observed at the neuroanatomical and molecular level in the brains of patients ”, added Amadoro.
CONFIRMATIONS AND STEPS FORWARD
“The study confirms the neuro-protective effect of the 12A12 antibody, already previously validated in genetically modified Alzheimer's models, thus opening the possibility to move to phase 1 clinical trials on humans”, continues Amadoro.
"These results greatly strengthen the role played by the alteration of the Tau protein as one of the pathological factors causing the disease, show the potential offered by its neutralization through antibody therapy and extend their influence to a greater understanding of the prevalent forms of the disease, in which metabolic disorders and cognitive decline often coexist ”, concluded Coccurello.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/non-solo-covid-un-monoclonale-contro-alzheimer/ on Sat, 25 Dec 2021 07:42:47 +0000.