Posted on 04/15/2023 7:46:58 AM PDT by Twotone
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) neuroscientists discovered a method for reversing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease by interfering with a hyperactive enzyme present in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The MIT researchers treated mice with a peptide designed to block CDK5, an enzyme that is typically hyperactive in patients with various neurodegenerative diseases, and observed significant reductions in neurodegeneration, the study says. Mice were better at performing tasks and showed reduced DNA damage in the brain.
“We found that the effect of this peptide is just remarkable,” said Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the senior author of the study, in a press release. “We saw wonderful effects in terms of reducing neurodegeneration and neuroinflammatory responses, and even rescuing behavior deficits.”
Ping-Chieh Pao, a research scientist at the Picower Institute, is the lead author of the study. It was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The peptide could potentially be used to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases associated with CDK5 hyperactivity. Alzheimer’s symptoms include memory loss, challenges with planning, difficulties completing familiar tasks and new problems with words, according to the Alzheimer’s association.
https://news.mit.edu/2023/new-peptide-may-hold-potential-alzheimers-treatment-0413
Eman!
OOPS.....
AMEN!
{8=)
Someone get Pedo Joe up to Boston!
Yes, good news but too late for some.
We can’t live forever though. Who would want to? Like John Coffee, we get to the point we have seen enough evil, pain, suffering and sorrow.
Like the drug that drove up medicare premiums last year, it is probably unaffordable to common man.
It will probably be available in 10 or 20 years and by then there wont be any medicare or social security any way.
Very interesting, but extrapolating from mice to humans can be unreliable.
The easiest way to avoid Alzheimer’s... Don’t get old.
Sooner or later it creeps up on all of us.
Thanks for posting this.
From the article: “Hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins form the neurofibrillary tangles that are one of the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease.”
For so long, researchers have targeted the amyloid plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Some years ago, some researchers began pursuing a new theory that the amyloid plaques were an artifact of the underlying Tau pathology, either a byproduct or reaction to the Tau tangles, and began working on the question of hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins rather than the amyloid plaque.
Hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins are also the culprit in FTD (frontotemporal dementia) and its close cousin ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Patients suffering from FTD and ALS do not develop the amyloid plaque as seen in Alzheimer’s, however. If this pans out, it seems likely to me it could be help these patients as well.
Ah, here we go. Also from the article:
Tsai now plans to do further studies in other mouse models of diseases that involve P25-associated neurodegeneration, such as frontotemporal dementia, HIV-induced dementia, and diabetes-linked cognitive impairment.
“It’s very hard to say precisely which disease will most benefit, so I think a lot more work is needed,” she says.
It appears tau pathology was likewise underestimated as a culprit in the development of Parkinson’s until fairly recently, too:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6176019/
I so hope this will prove effective in treating these cruel diseases. I have seen other candidates that looked very promising all the way from mouse studies clear through Phase II clinical trials, only tho bomb out in Phase III (LMTX comes to mind). It looks like it may be some years before we know.
We can always hope.
But after decades of reading about ‘breakthroughs’ for curing cancer, cold fusion, etc., and never seeing anything significant come out of them, it’s kind of hard to get fired-up about reports like this.
Seems there was a recent fiasco that shook the foundations of my faith in medical ‘science’. Lemme see, what was that again? Oh yeah: Covid 19 mRNA vaccines. And it sounds like they’re getting ready to surreptitiously slip that into our food supply before long, too...
Of course the general public will never see it.
.
Many of those who have loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia follow research closely. I know I sure did! This will likely be picked up by the Alzheimer’s foundations and their news sites and also by the MSM. CBS reported on the early stages of this research back in 2017:
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/alzheimers-mit-research/
patients should be able to get it through a ‘right to try’ emergency authorization use if it seems safe for humans- it’s a disease that will kill- and as such should get emergency use- dementia is an international issue, and should be treated almost as a pandemic issue where people who know they are going to die are able to sign wavers before their Alzheimer’s sets in in order to try experimental issues hsoudl they get the condition- I know i’d sign it now, incase i should end up with dementia- as there really is nothing at present that can reverse it except maybe experimental drugs-
Do mice with Alzeimer’s fail to recognize their kids? Are they unable to name the President?
To be precise...it’s Cambridge.
Yes,anything like this that comes from MIT is big...noteworthy.
My BIL has Lewey Body. By the time the FDA approves this he will be long gone. There is a better chance the med beds will roll out before this.
I am so very sorry. I’ve read frontotemporal dementia is hardest on caregivers, and it is hard, but I always thought Lewy Body sounded at least as hard. All forms of dementia are heartbreaking. My heart and prayers go out to you and your family.
I found Teepa Snow to be very helpful. She is an occupational therapist who has a real heart for dementia patients. Her advice was helpful in many practical ways, and also helpful to my heart. She has lots of free videos on You Tube.
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