Dr. Karen Ashe’s research has piqued the interest of Alzheimer’s associations around the country. She has just recently discovered a method that may be responsible for restoring cognition in Alzheimer’s patients.
Camille Williams from KARE11, reports that Dr. Ashe’s group of Minnesota researchers have paved the way in discovering a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s. The research has been conducted for over 10 years, and the researchers may have found the cause why the neurons in an Alzheimer’s brain have difficulty in communicating with each other.
The enzyme, Caspase-2, is the one responsible for cutting off Tau. Tau is a protein found in neurons. This is a vital discovery for lead researcher Dr. Karen Ashe. It will be beneficial for restoring cognition for those affected by the condition. She says that they were able to determine a target that can be used to establish communication between the neurons.
New discovery in Alzheimer’s research
It’s been ten years in the making, but researchers at the University of Minnesota think they might have figured out what is causing neurons in an Alzheimer’s brain from communicating with each other. Tau, a protein, found in neurons gets cut off by a naturally occurring enzyme called Caspase-2. Read more…
Maura Lerner from Star Tribune says that Dr. Ashe and her team found that Caspase-2 takes part in the occurrence of dementia. They used genetically altered mice in their study and they reversed the memory loss. They used the method of lowering the enzyme level and it proved to be a success in mice. The lead researcher said that this one has the greatest potential of being developed into a drug.
However, she emphasized that it may take them a lot of time before they can finally release a form of treatment for patients. The next step now is developing that pill that can block the enzyme. The doctor wanted to set expectations though that it is going to be a 10-year process.
Alzheimer’s researchers at University of Minnesota reverse memory loss in mice
In a study published this week in the journal Nature Medicine, Ashe and her team found that a natural enzyme called caspase-2 plays a key role in dementia. By lowering the enzyme level, they were able to reverse the memory loss in mice that were genetically altered to mimic the disease. Read more…
Natural Institutes of Health released a report about the discovery. The report states that Alzheimer’s belong to tauopathies, a group of neurodegenerative disorders that exhibit tau protein deposits inside brain cells. In the study, the mice that were genetically modified to mimic the condition showed that they regain some of their learning and memory abilities.
The researchers blocked the caspase-2 enzyme activity, therefore, discovering that they may reverse the cognitive loss. Roderick A. Corriveau, Ph.D., a program director at NINDS (the group who funded the study), says that the results of the research warrants a further investigation of caspase-2.
Untangling a cause of memory loss in neurodegenerative diseases
A new study reveals that the cutting of tau by an enzyme called caspase-2 may play a critical role in the disordered brain circuit function that occurs in these diseases. Of interest, the culprit tau fragment identified in this study is actually resistant to forming aggregates, and it causes a disturbance in memory function in animal models before brain cell loss occurs. Read more…
Alzheimer’s is a serious condition mostly affecting the elderly. This new discovery is proof that we can still hope for a cure. It’s just good to know that we can at least cling to that hope that there’s going to be a possible treatment in the future.
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