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With an ageing population, more than 5 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and with Alzheimer's now the sixth leading cause of death, finding an effective treatment is an urgent national goal.
A new, still-experimental drug known as NTRX-07 shows promise towards that goal. Studies in mice whose brains have degenerative changes similar to those from Alzheimer's in humans show reduced inflammation and increased removal of amyloid plaques, both implicated in the devastating impacts of Alzheimer's.
Presenting their findings at the Anesthesiology 2016 Annual Meeting, lead researcher Mohamed Naguib and his colleagues reported that NTRX-07 enhanced the ability of microglial immune cells to reduce inflammation and clear toxic amyloid plaques from the brain.
"NTRX-07 uses a different mechanism than many other Alzheimer's drugs currently available," says Naguib, "as it targets the cause of the disease, not just the symptoms."
Of course, the path from a compound that shows promise in an animal model of a disease to a safe and effective human drug is a long and uncertain one--12 years on average. We can only hope that NTRX-07 or some other drug (such as a promising BACE1 inhibitor) that can prevent or cure Alzheimer's will run that gauntlet successfully and soon.
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3/14/19: For an update on the promise of BACE1 inhibitors, navigate here.
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Healthy vs diseased brain/Credit: Wikimedia
A new, still-experimental drug known as NTRX-07 shows promise towards that goal. Studies in mice whose brains have degenerative changes similar to those from Alzheimer's in humans show reduced inflammation and increased removal of amyloid plaques, both implicated in the devastating impacts of Alzheimer's.
Beta-amyloid plaques/Credit: vestque
Presenting their findings at the Anesthesiology 2016 Annual Meeting, lead researcher Mohamed Naguib and his colleagues reported that NTRX-07 enhanced the ability of microglial immune cells to reduce inflammation and clear toxic amyloid plaques from the brain.
"NTRX-07 uses a different mechanism than many other Alzheimer's drugs currently available," says Naguib, "as it targets the cause of the disease, not just the symptoms."
Of course, the path from a compound that shows promise in an animal model of a disease to a safe and effective human drug is a long and uncertain one--12 years on average. We can only hope that NTRX-07 or some other drug (such as a promising BACE1 inhibitor) that can prevent or cure Alzheimer's will run that gauntlet successfully and soon.
-----
3/14/19: For an update on the promise of BACE1 inhibitors, navigate here.
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