RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
  Dementia
   Alzheimer's
  Parkinson's
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Alzheimer's Channel

subscribe to Alzheimer's newsletter
Latest Research : Aging : Dementia : Alzheimer's

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
MW01-5-188WH stops brain cell degeneration in Alzheimer's disease

Jan 20, 2006 - 1:39:00 PM , Reviewed by: Ankush Vidyarthi
"First, a novel compound for development into a new class of Alzheimer's disease therapeutics that target disease has been described. Second, an innovative approach was used for the rapid and cost-effective discovery of orally bioavailable, safe and efficacious compounds, and this approach can be extended to other disease areas"

 
[RxPG] Drug discovery researchers at Northwestern University have developed a novel orally administered compound specifically targeted to suppress brain cell inflammation and neuron loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The compound is also rapidly absorbed by the brain and is non-toxic – important considerations for a central nervous system drug that might need to be taken for extended periods.

As described in the Jan. 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, the compound, called MW01-5-188WH, selectively inhibits production of pro-inflammatory proteins called cytokines by glia, important cells of the central nervous system that normally help the body mount a response, but are overactivated in certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury.

The compound was designed and synthesized in the laboratory of D. Martin Watterson at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, using a synthetic chemistry platform developed in his lab by researchers at the Northwestern University Center for Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology (CDDCB) for the rapid discovery of new potential therapeutic compounds.

Watterson is co-director of the CDDCB, the J.G. Searle Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and professor of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry at the Feinberg School.

The efficacy and safety of the compound in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease was evaluated in collaboration with Linda J. Van Eldik, co-director of the CDDCB and professor of cell and molecular biology at Feinberg.

Besides providing a lead compound for drug development, the study has important implications for drug discovery in neurodegenerative diseases in general because it provides proof of concept that targeting over-production of cytokines by activated glia is a viable approach that has the potential to modulate disease onset and progression, the researchers said.

Decline of cognitive functions linked to the part of the brain called the hippocampus is a clinical hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The report demonstrates that targeting excessive glial activation can suppress brain inflammation and neuron dysfunction in the hippocampus and protect against cognitive decline in an animal model.

Neuron dysfunction can lead to further glia activation and contribute to further exacerbation of the disease process. The Northwestern researchers found that 188WH and related compounds slowed or reversed the progression of the neuroinflammatory cascade and reduced human amyloid beta-induced glia activation in a mouse specially designed to develop many of the signs of Alzheimer's disease, including neuroinflammation, neuronal and synaptic degeneration and behavioral deficits.

The compound also restored normal levels of markers of synaptic dysfunction in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that helps regulate memory and is gradually destroyed in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Treatment with the compound also attenuated Alzheimer's-like behavioral deficits in the mice that are due to injury to the hippocampus.

While previous research by the authors and many other investigators in the field has linked plaques, tangles and neuronal injury to synaptic dysfunction and cognitive decline, the direct linkage of glia to these processes and their potential as a selective target for new therapies has not previously been implicated so directly.

There are three key aspects of the report, Watterson said.

"First, a novel compound for development into a new class of Alzheimer's disease therapeutics that target disease has been described. Second, an innovative approach was used for the rapid and cost-effective discovery of orally bioavailable, safe and efficacious compounds, and this approach can be extended to other disease areas," Watterson said.

"Third, the design, synthesis and in vivo analyses were carried out by a new generation of young scientists trained in our educational program to instruct the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists," Watterson said.

Northwestern University patented the compound designated 188WH and has exclusively licensed the patent rights to NeuroMedix, Inc., for clinical development.



Publication: Jan. 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience
On the web: www.northwestern.edu 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Alzheimer's News


Subscribe to Alzheimer's Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
Co-authors with Watterson and Van Eldik on this report were senior staff biologist Ling Guao; post-doctoral trainees Hantamalala Ralay Ranaivo and Wenhui Hu; and pre-doctoral trainees Jeffrey M. Craft and Laura K. Wing, Center for Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology, Northwestern University.

This research was supported in part by funds from the Institute for the Study of Aging; from the National Institutes of Health (AG013939; NS047586; AG021184; N0S46942; and AG000260); from the PhRMA Foundation; and from NeuroMedix, Inc.
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)