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Preliminary tests of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease show promising results, Xinhua news agency chief of research team at the University of California at Los Angeles told UCLA ). The drug, called ALI6, has been tested on primary mouse neurons and researchers have found promising results, Lin Jiang, an badistant professor of Chinese neurology, said on Saturday.
"The next step is to test it on mouse models of Alzheimer's disease," he said. "After a successful test on animals, we plan to move to a clinical trial on humans."
One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, a debilitating disease characterized by memory deficits and a decline general cognitive, is a protein called b-amyloid that accumulates in the brain. Plates form and bind to unique proteins on the surface of brain cells, resulting in widespread cell death.
ALI6 can prevent the β-amyloid plaques from attaching to brain cells and thus prevent prolonged cell death, says a UCLA press release, adding that the study had been published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
Jiang worked with his team to identify the binding site of the amyloid b plaque to its receptor by determining the three-dimensional structure. They then used computer software to help them in the drug selection process.
In order to find molecular candidates able to block the interaction between amyloid b cells and brain cells, the team examined more than 32,000 molecules and a drug, namely ALI6. ,
Researchers cultured mouse brain cells and exposed them to toxic b-amyloid proteins, and treated some cells with ALI6, which almost completely prevented cell death. that the drug could possibly be considered to treat Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease affects approximately 48 million people worldwide and its number is expected to increase with the aging of the population. There is no effective treatment yet.
Source: IANS
Published: October 29, 2018 08:46 | Updated: October 29, 2018 8h48
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