Researchers at Mayo Clinic, with their national and international collaborators, have discovered how a class of agents now in testing to treat Alzheimer’s disease work, and say they may open up an avenue of drug discovery for this disease and others.
In the June 12 issue of Nature, they report that agents known as gamma-secretase modulators (GSM) work to reduce production of long pieces of the amyloid beta protein (Abeta) that readily stick together and form clumps, and increase production of shorter Abeta that can inhibit the longer forms from sticking together. This is critical because only when Abeta aggregates and accumulates it is harmful and can trigger Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers say.
“So, as these compounds lower the amount of the bad, longer sticky Abeta peptides in the brain, they increase the quantity of shorter Abeta peptides that may protect against development of Alzheimer’s disease,” says senior author Todd Golde, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. “In a very general sense the action of these GSM on Abeta might be analogous to some cholesterol lowering drugs that can lower LDL, the bad cholesterol that sticks to your arteries, and can raise HDL, the good cholesterol that sweeps out LDL.”
Here is the full release. See also this backgrounder on Alzheimer’s disease research at Mayo Clinic.
Segment 1: Todd Golde, M.D., Ph.D., describes the significance of the research findings.
Segment 2: Dr. Golde describes how the implications of the findings go beyond Alzheimer’s disease research, and point to a potential new way of designing drugs for other diseases.
Segment 3: Dr. Golde discusses the hopes for these kinds of drugs and how they relate to medications currently available for Alzheimer’s.
Update: This story received broad coverage including wire stories from HealthDay and Reuters.
