Scientists at the University of Texas have implicated a type of cellular stress for the first time as a player in Alzheimer's disease. And their discovery could lead to treatments for more than 20 human brain diseases including Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. One author of the study went as far as to say the treatment that researchers used on mice to rid them of the stressed cells actually stopped Alzheimer's disease "in its tracks."
The team confirmed the discovery in four types of mice that model Alzheimer’s disease, UT Health reported. “The researchers then used a combination of drugs to clear senescent cells from the brains of middle-aged Alzheimer’s mice. Such drugs are called senolytics. The drugs used by the San Antonio researchers are Dasatinib, a chemotherapy medication that is U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved to treat leukemia, and Quercetin, a natural flavonoid compound found in fruits, vegetables and some beverages such as tea.”
After three months of treatment, UT Health said their findings were “exciting.” Orr said in a statement that the Alzheimer’s mice were 20 months old and had advanced brain disease when researchers started the therapy. “After clearing the senescent cells, we saw improvements in brain structure and function. This was observed on brain MRI studies (magnetic resonance imaging) and postmortem histology studies of cell structure. The treatment seems to have stopped the disease in its tracks,” she said.
“The fact we were able to treat very old mice and see improvement gives us hope that this treatment might work in human patients even after they exhibit symptoms of a brain disease,” stated Nicolas Musi, the study’s first author, professor of Medicine and director of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute at UT Health San Antonio.
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Edited by VP., 10 June 2019 - 03:12 PM.