Revolutionary drug may help prevent Alzheimer's

Published on Thursday 2 June 2011 18:44

DEMENTIA sufferers have been offered new hope after scientists discovered a drug which could halt the debilitating symptoms.

Researchers say the new drug slows the onset of both Alzheimer's and Huntington's Disease and allows sufferers to live longer.

The drug, containing a special compound called JM6, blocks an enzyme long suspected of playing a role in both degenerative diseases.

By testing JM6 on mice showing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, scientists found that it could help prevent memory loss, as well as the loss of synaptic connections between brain cells, both of which are key features of Alzheimer's. In mice with Huntington's Disease, JM6 was found to prevent brain inflammation, as well as loss of synaptic connections.

In both sets of mice, JM6 was also found to prolong lifespan.

Results of the experiments, published in the journal Current Biology, have raised hopes that the same enzyme could be used to halt the spread of both diseases in humans.

More than 750,000 people suffer from dementia related conditions - such as Alzheimer's in the UK, two-thirds of them women. 60,000 people die from the condition every year, which costs the NHS 20billion annually.

Huntington's Disease is rarer - affecting between 4,000 and 6,000 people in the UK at any one time, but is hereditary and, like Alzheimer's, incurable.

Scientists from Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, USA, discovered that JM6 works by decreasing levels of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO], an enzyme long suspected of having a part to play in both diseases.

After JM6 penetrates the red blood cells, they then send a protective signal to the brain, stabilising cell function and thus preventing brain degeneration.

Gladstone Institutes spokesperson Dr Lennart Mucke, whose colleague Dr Paul Muchowski identified JM6 hailed the findings, saying: "This discovery has significant implications for two devastating diseases and suggests that the KMO enzyme is a good protein for us to target with medications in diverse neurodegenerative disorders."

Explaining how JM6 works, he added: "Remarkably, JM6 does not penetrate into the brain, but works by inhibiting KMO in the blood.

"The blood cells then send a protective signal to the brain, to stabilize brain-cell function and prevent neurodegeneration.

"The fact that the compound does not pass the so-called blood-brain barrier will facilitate testing in patients, as JM6's potential impact could be confirmed with a simple blood test. With any luck, Dr Muchowski and his colleagues could begin testing this drug in patients within the next two years." Charles Sabine, a former NBC television news correspondent in the US whose father died of Huntingdon's and who now has the condition himself, said: "In a world where there is such vacuum of hope about Hundington's disease, I am thrilled that someone of Dr Muchowski's calibre has suggested the possibility of imminent clinical trials.

"I believe that families with Huntington's disease should jump at the opportunity of being involved in those trials."