Alzheimer’s Disease Pathway Identified as Potential Early Therapeutic Target

Source : Alzheimer’s Disease Pathway Identified as Potential Early Therapeutic Target (genengnews.com)

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a molecular pathway in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that could lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches to target the neurodegenerative condition early in its progression. The team’s studies, in cells from human AD patients and in mouse models of the disease, indicated that the pathway, known as Drp1-HK1-NLRP3, plays a key role in disrupting the normal function of brain cells that produce the protective white matter myelin sheath that wraps around neurons.

“This is a missing part of the puzzle,” said research lead Xin Qi, PhD, a professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at the School of Medicine. “We’ve discovered a pathway that is accessible to detection and potential treatment, prior to much of the disease’s damage and well before clinical symptoms appear.” Reporting on their findings in Science Advances (“Oligodendroglial glycolytic stress triggers inflammasome activation and neuropathology in Alzheimer’s disease,”) Qi and colleagues concluded, “Overall, our findings provide previously unidentified insights into the mechanism of white matter degeneration in AD and thus identify a new area for potential therapeutic intervention … The Drp1-HK1-NLRP3 signaling axis may be a key mechanism and therapeutic target for white matter degeneration in AD.”

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