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Researchers “A Step Closer” To Alzheimer’s Cure

July 23, 2007

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British and U.S. health researchers have developed a drug one Alzheimer’s disease expert says would be “the Holy Grail” if it lives up to its billing – stopping, and even curing, Alzheimer’s disease.

The research team, based at the University of Saint Andrews in the UK, has reportedly developed compounds that can block a nerve cell interaction long associated with development of the memory-destroying disease.

Because of the preliminary results, the Alzheimer’s Research Trust is funding another three years of work on the project.

Trust chief executive Rebecca Wood says the breakthrough is exciting and holds enormous promise. The number of people afflicted with Alzheimer’s is projected to double in the next decade are life spans increase and the baby boom generation ages.

Alzheimer's is currently a non-reversible degenerative brain disease, caused by a build-up of plaque in blood vessels serving the brain. The plaque is caused by amyloid protein, which compounds the damage as it interacts with an enzyme called Amyloid Beta Alcohol Dehydrogenase, releasing toxic substances that kill brain cells.

The last year has brought other promising reports of progress against Alzheimer’s.

In July 2006 a study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine identified a faulty molecule in the brain found in cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Researchers said this faulty molecule may be responsible for the progression of MCI to mild Alzheimer's disease.

According to the American Health Assistance Foundation, more than 4.5 million people in the United States live with the disease and more than 26 million people are affected worldwide.

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