Britton Ledingham for the Libin Cardiovascular Institute
Sept. 23, 2020
Research team discovers breakthrough with potential to prevent, reverse Alzheimer's
A research team at the 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 (CSM) led by Dr. S.R. Wayne Chen, PhD, has made an exciting breakthrough with the potential to prevent and reverse the effects of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
The team discovered that limiting the open time of a channel called the ryanodine receptor, which acts like a gateway to cells located in the heart and brain, reverses and prevents progression of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease in animal models. They also identified a drug that interrupts the disease process.
The effect of giving the drug to animal models was remarkable: After one month of treatment, the memory loss and cognitive impairments in these models disappeared.
鈥淭he significance of identifying a clinically used drug that acts on a defined target to provide anti-Alzheimer鈥檚 disease benefits can鈥檛 be overstated,鈥 says Chen, a member of the and the at the CSM.听Dr. Jinjing Yao, PhD, a student of Chen, is the first author of the study.
The results of this groundbreaking study were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal, .听
This work is potentially highly impactful as more than half a million Canadians live with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other dementias, suffering memory loss and other cognitive impairments with a negative impact on quality of life.
The science behind the findings
Previous research has shown that the progression of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is driven by a vicious cycle of the protein amyloid 尾 (A尾) inducing hyperactivity at the neuron level. However, the mechanism behind this wasn鈥檛 fully understood, nor were there effective treatments to stop the cycle. 聽
Chen鈥檚 team used a portion of an existing drug used for heart patients, carvedilol, to treat mice models with Alzheimer鈥檚 symptoms. After a month of treatment, researchers tested animal models with very promising results.
鈥淲e treated them for a month and the effect was quite amazing,鈥 says Chen, explaining the drug was successful in reversing major symptoms of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 tell the drug-treated disease models and the healthy models apart.鈥
Chen, a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, is optimistic about the future of this research. However, there are many steps to be taken before this finding would lead to a clinical trial.听
If you are interested in finding out about clinical trials that are underway related to Alzheimer鈥檚 you can go to Participate in Research. There you鈥檒l find a number of studies looking for participants including control subjects, people not living with a specific condition.
Wayne Chen is 草莓污视频导航鈥檚 Heart and Stroke Chair in Cardiovascular Research, as well as聽a professor in the Department聽of Physiology and Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the CSM.听Led by the聽,听聽is one of six research strategies guiding the 草莓污视频导航 toward its聽Eyes High聽goals. The strategy provides a unifying direction for brain and mental health research at the university.
This research was supported by philanthropic donations from the Alvin and Mona Libin Foundation, Canadian Pacific Railway Company,听and Sam and Beverley Mozell.