New study: German researchers want to finally stop Alzheimer's | Life & Knowledge
The fight against forgetting is keeping researchers around the world on tenterhooks. There is still no cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, German scientists have now developed a promising research approach that could stop the most common form of dementia in its early stages.
BILD explains the new study.
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have focused on the amyloids that Alzheimer's patients increased in Brain These proteins form deposits and destroy the brain cells over time. Forgetting progresses incessantly.
The TUM team led by Dr. Benedikt Zott, Prof. Arthur Konnerth and Prof. Arne Skerra has now succeeded in developing an active ingredient that can suppress the effects of harmful amyloids.
Good results in mice
The experiments were initially carried out in the laboratory on mice. The results suggest that neuronal malfunctions could even be repaired. The scientists' hope: to halt the progression of the serious neurodegenerative disease in the early stages with the amyloid-binding anticalin (H1GA).
The researchers obtained the anticalin H1GA through protein design and produced it in genetically modified bacteria of the species Escherichia coli. These are intestinal bacteria. The active ingredient was injected directly into the hippocampus region of the brain.
Dr. Benedikt Zott from the Technical University of Munich: “We are still a long way from a therapy that can be used in humans, but the results in animal experiments are very encouraging. Particularly remarkable is the effect that neuronal hyperactivity could be completely suppressed in the early stages of the disease.” A dosage form of the active ingredient for humans is already in development. The study has now been published in the renowned journal “Nature Communications”.
According to the Alzheimer Society, around 1.8 million people with dementiamost of whom suffer from Alzheimer's. There is currently no medication to combat the basic mechanisms of the disease. Only symptoms such as declining mental performance can be treated, writes the Technical University of Munich.