Scientists from the Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School technology institute have identified new targets to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease, according to MIT.
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative brain disease that affects the memory of people and other mental functions. Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by cells cease to work or die, and diseases generally aggravate over time.
The creation of new drugs for the disease is an integral part, as current drugs are not as effective as necessary, said the institution.
Researchers have used data from humans and fruit flies to identify what could lead to neurodegeneration and contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
By examining the genes found in the brain cells of fruit flies, researchers could see how fast flies have developed a brain disease when I get older, said MIT.
During the process, researchers identified 200 genes that accelerated brain disease in flies and found that many of these genes can also cause something similar in humans.
In a distinct part of the study, scientists used data related to Alzheimer’s disease to understand how different versions of genes modify the levels of certain proteins. Using two different methods, researchers have linked certain genes to the development of Alzheimer’s.
“All the evidence that we have indicated that there are many different ways involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. It is multifactorial, and that is perhaps why it was so difficult to develop effective drugs, “explains Ernest Fraenkel, professor in health and technology sciences in the Biological Engineering department of MIT and the main study of the study. “We will need a kind of combination of treatments that strike different parts of this disease.”
Alzheimer’s disease is understood by some as due to an accumulation of abnormal proteins, also called amyloid plates, in the brain. Current drugs help block or break down these plates, said the institution.
However, it is necessary to do more to understand if there are other ways of treating or preventing the disease.
“One possibility is that there may be more than one Alzheimer’s cause, and that even in one person, there could be multiple contributory factors,” said Fraenkel.
- Find out more: BU center with more than 1,600 brains obtains $ 15 million in federal subsidy to detect the disease
Research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The team of scientists aims to collaborate with other laboratories to explore if their results could be applied to the creation of drugs to improve the health of neurons.
“The search for Alzheimer’s drugs will be considerably accelerated when there are very good robust experimental systems,” said Fraenkel. “We come to a point where some truly innovative systems meet.”
Research comes after the National Institutes of Health ended hundreds of subsidies worth billions of dollars. The number has not been confirmed by the Senate minority personnel report, education, work and pensions indicating more than $ 2.7 billion, while others estimate the stage at $ 1.8 billion.
The MIT is one of those who pursue the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation after federal officials have attempted to reduce indirect costs in the reception institutions, which refer to the general costs for institutions that receive subsidies.
“In addition to its destructive impact on research and training, this last effort violates long -standing federal laws and regulations that govern the subsidy. We seek to prevent the implementation of this poorly conceived and short -sighted policy, which will only harm the American people and weaken the country. We are impatient to carry our cause,” said organizations in a press release.
