Summary
Altzheimer's disease is a progressive disease that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. No perfect cure has been discovered yet, but scientists are still looking and they have come to the conclusion that the key to slowing down the disease is to clean up the debris that builds up inside the head. Scientists have successfully used the drug nilotinib to eliminate abnormal protein build-up in the brains of mice. Nilotinib is a drug that was originally used for leukemia to stop the production of harmful chemicals, and it has been shown that in extremely small dosages, it is effective against the harmful proteins (especially tau) found in patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
. Testing has shown that the mice treated with the drug had an improvement in cognitive and motor functions, and they also lived longer that the control mice.
Their primary hope is for the drug to work against Lewy Body dementia, which is when one develops Alzheimer's and Parkinson's at the same time.
Relevance
This is related to the nervous system that we learned in class. Because the nervous system is in charge of taking in, processing, and responding to stimuli, it is crucial that there are no major problems with the system. Alzheimer's disease entails the growth of plaques and tangles which interfere with nerve cell communication and therefore,these cells die and the brain shrinks. It also keeps nerve cells from functioning regularly, and this is a major problem because it then interferes with synapse, or sending a nerve impulse from one cell to another, thus presenting that problem with homeostasis.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/09/potential-treatment-for-parkinsons-alzheimers-dementia-discovered/
Posted: May 10, 2013
Author: Amanda Woerner
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ReplyDeleteIs Nilotinib effective against any other proteins apart from tau?
DeleteNilotinib was originally used for leukemia to stop the production of harmful chemicals. Tau is only one of those harmful chemicals, so yes, it works on other proteins as well, but the main focus is on tau.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it not simply approbriable to administer to those that have Alzheimers?
ReplyDeleteThe main hope is for this drug to treat Lewy Body dementia, which is a combination of Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. If it is effective against this form of dementia, it will be effective against Alzheimers. This drug has already been tested on humans for Leukemia, so it is relatively safe, and they will administer the drug to those that have Alzheimer's when the results of further testing are conclusive.
ReplyDelete