New substance could slow down Alzheimer's disease

(CONNECT) Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) have developed a new active substance that could slow down the progression of Alzheimer's dementia. According to a press release, the active ingredient known as substance 10 is also said to have anti-ageing potential.

Ursula Quitterer and her team focused their investigations on the effect of the GRK2 enzyme. This protein regulates reactions to signals and stress in cells. GRK2 is particularly active in the heart and brain. Studies on brain tissue samples from patients with and without dementia showed that an inactive form of the enzyme was found more frequently in patients with dementia. This tended to clump together and prevented mitochondria from supplying the energy required by cells. Experiments on mice also showed that the inactive enzyme promotes the formation of beta-amyloid. This is the protein fragment that is considered to be the main trigger of Alzheimer's disease.

The use of substance 10 in mouse experiments again showed that the active substance can dissolve the protein clumps. The team observed both improved mitochondrial activity and reduced beta-amyloid deposits. Cardiac function and ageing processes were positively influenced by the use of the active ingredient.

"Alzheimer's is a very complicated disease," Ursula Quitterer is quoted as saying in the press release. As current drugs do not cure the disease, "it is so important that we have now identified a new target protein in GRK2 and a drug that acts via GRK2 and thus via a different mechanism than previous Alzheimer's drugs," Quitterer continues. The current study was recently published in the journal "Cell Reports Medicine". ce/ww