Utahn may be on the verge of significant breakthrough in treating Alzheimer’s disease – Deseret News

Is a University of Utah research professor on the verge of a significant breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders?

Not only would a bunch of lab mice vote yes, they would remember it.

Donna J. Cross, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience, has spent the past 25 years leading research that favorably suggests that a small, specialized dose of a chemotherapy drug called Paclitaxel may be able to repair injuries, which they are caused by a pathology or trauma. to the human brain.

The quest began at the University of Michigan, where Cross earned her doctorate, then at the University of Washington when she joined that faculty, and finally at the University of Utah, when Cross’s mentor and the man who started the research, Dr. Satoshi. Minoshima, came to the United States as director of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences.

In a nutshell, when the scientists gave their version of the anti-cancer drug to mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s disease, the mice experienced “a complete reversal of their cognitive deficit.” The same thing happened when concussed mice were given the drug.

Suddenly, mice that were unable to remember things and/or had suffered head trauma were behaving cognitively normally again.

“Whether this happens in humans, we still have a lot of work to do,” Cross says. But what if that were the case? She does not equivocate. “That would be huge.”

This is personal for Donna Cross. Like many of us, she knows what it’s like to see loved ones suffer from brain diseases. Her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis was her main motivation for joining the Minoshima team when she began graduate school. Recently, a father-in-law with severe dementia only increased his sense of urgency.

“Even though it’s too late for my grandmother and probably too late for my father-in-law, it’s not too late for so many people in the world,” she says, “it’s why we must keep moving forward. »

However, scientific research takes time and money. With decreasing amounts of both substances when she arrived at the University of Utah (Alzheimer’s research isn’t her only fire), Cross admits she was “almost ready to give up.”

She desperately needed help repurposing Paclitaxel into a form that could be applied to the human brain and didn’t know where to turn.

Once settled in her lab at the University, she did a Google search to see if there were any pharmaceutical scientists in the area.

It was then that she discovered that she had been assigned, by chance, an office in the Biomedical Polymers Research Building, where world-renowned Czech pharmaceutical chemist Jindrich (Henry) Kopecek set up his headquarters.

The drug manufacturers she needed were literally right next door.

Kopecek and Dr. Jiyuan (Jane) Yang have been fully involved ever since, lending their expertise to figuring out how to safely develop and deliver a potentially game-changing drug to the brain.

“I’m just very, very lucky to be placed in their building for no other reason than the fact that they had space,” Cross says. “These guys are rock stars. I came to them as a brain specialist interested in treating neurological diseases and they are the drug developers and distributors. It’s a very strong collaboration due to our different areas of expertise.

The goal now is to develop the drug and prepare it for clinical trials. It will be expensive – Cross estimates they need to raise at least $2 million – but the upside potential could be invaluable.

“We would treat not only Alzheimer’s disease,” she says, “but also any type of dementia: ALS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, any type of disease that causes nerve cells to die .”

In the best case scenario, not only would the neurological damage be stopped, but the brain could also be healed.

How long will it take to find out? As long as it takes, Cross said. “This is my passion. It started out being personal to me; This is still the case, extremely.

This week, Cross will present on his work at the free Alzheimer’s Education and Caregiving Conference on Wednesday, May 15, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Embassy Hotel West Valley City Suites. The conference, hosted by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, is open to the public.

“My motivation for doing these public talks is twofold: first, to draw attention to the work we are doing, and second, to provide hope,” says Cross. “I think it’s extremely important that people have hope.”

To register in advance for the conference, go to www.alzfdn.org/tour. You can stay connected to Cross’ research by following @UofURadiology.