United States: In the latest success gained by scientists who have been able to identify potentially important targets, which would ultimately help in bringing down the symptoms caused by the Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Scientists’ major breakthrough achievement would help revolutionize the treatment of such diseases, with the promise of even halting or reversing the disease process.
Current status of Alzheimer’s disease
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states Alzheimer’s is the most occuring form of dementia and affects millions of Americans every year.
It mainly impairs the person with thinking and other brain-related declining conditions, as there is an accumulation of proteins in and around the cells of the patient.
Presently, no cure is available for Alzheimer’s and such diseases. But recently, several treatments have been approved, which could slow down the progression of the disease.
What more have the experts stated?
According to the scientists, ˇScott Selleck, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Penn State Eberly College of Science, “Strategies to treat Alzheimer’s disease to date have largely focused on pathological changes prominent in the late stages of the disease,” as newsweek.com reported.
He added, “Although recently [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]-approved drugs have shown the ability to modestly slow the disease by targeting one of these changes, amyloid accumulation, drugs that affect the earliest cellular deficits might provide important tools to stop or reverse the disease process.”
“We are interested in understanding the earliest cellular changes that are found not only in Alzheimer’s but shared across other neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),” he continued.
About the latest discovery
In a breakthrough, scientists have been able to target potent novel targets inside the brain, which if identified during early stages of progression of disease, it might play a key role in halting or reversing the progression of the Alzheimer’s.
The study’s findings have been published in the journal iScience, where Selleck and colleagues from Penn State performed the work.
The discovery centers around a group of cell-signaling molecules, which are called heparan sulfate-modified proteins.
These molecular proteins’ roles have previously been raised, yet their function in the disease has remained unclear till now.
The protein presence could be identified on both surfaces as well as between the two cells. While performing several other functions, its key role is to regulate a cellular recycling process called autophagy.
In case of neurodegenerative diseases, this process could not be functioned properly, right from the beginning of the disease. It leads to cells not able to get rid of their damaged components properly, therepy impairing them to work properly.
Selleck said, “In this study, we determined that heparan sulfate-modified proteins suppress autophagy-dependent cell repair,” as newsweek.com reported.
What more have the scientists discovered?
The team noticed that disruption in heparan sulfate-modified proteins raises levels of autophagy in their respective cells.
Therefore, as experts have noticed, reducing the functioning of these proteins would help improve the function of the cell’s mitochondria (which helps in the energy production of cells) and further reduce the piling-up of fatty compounds inside the cells.
These two activities are considered as the initial biomarkers during the initiation of other neurodegenerative diseases.