Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Key Function Of Nervous System Enzyme Found; Impact On Drug Development Against Alzheimer's

09-29-2006 · ScienceDaily

Ever since scientists first elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology and loss of nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease, drug companies have been working to develop drugs which will inhibit the outbreak of this severe form of dementia. Now researchers in Munich and Berlin (Germany) have discovered that an enyzme which has a central causal role in Alzheimer's disease happens also to have a key function in the normal development of the nervous system. This enzyme, beta-secretase or BACE1, ensures that nerve fibers (axons) are adequately isolated with sheaths of myelin, enabling rapid conduction of electrical impulses, as well as preventing short-circuits, akin to plastic insulation on electrical wires.

Keywords: key, function, nervous, system, enzyme, impact, drug, development, alzheimer, nervou

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Key Function Of Nervous System Enzyme Found; Impact On Drug Development Against Alzheimer's":

Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
Similar news · Read more »
JCI table of contents -- June 1, 2007
06-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
This release contains summaries, links to PDFs and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published online, June 1, 2007, in the JCI, including: Pregnant mom’s exposure to flu vaccine kick-starts fetal immune system; Dietary supplementation with enzyme reverses some kidney disease; Don’t judge a book by its cover: Interleukin-1beta turns out to be helpful in Alzheimer's disease; HIF provides a link between blood and bone development; and others.
Similar news · Read more »
Study reveals a key to blood vessel growth and possible drug target
10-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have identified a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in the growth of blood vessels. The finding not only offers an important insight into the development of the vascular system during embryonic development but suggests a potential target for inhibiting the blood vessels that fuel cancers, diabetic eye complications and atherosclerosis, the researchers say.
Similar news · Read more »
U-M scientists find new causes for neurodegeneration
10-24-2007 · EurekAlert!
Diseases that cause neurons to break down, such as Alzheimer's, continue to be elusive to scientists and resistant to treatments. A new finding from University of Michigan researchers demonstrates an unpredicted link between a virtually unknown signaling molecule and neuron health. In a study released in PNAS this week, Lois Weisman connects the loss of this molecule to massive neurodegeneration in the brain, which plays a key role in the survival of nervous system cells.
Similar news · Read more »
Obesity and the central nervous system -- the state of the art
08-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
The past decade has witnessed an explosion of information regarding the role of the central nervous system in the development of obesity and the influence of peripheral, hormonal signals that regulate CNS function to regulate food intake and metabolism. A symposium held recently in Washington, DC, organized by The Journal of Physiology, focused on recent work in talks by leaders in the field.
Similar news · Read more »
Detailed 3-D image catches a key regulator of neural stem cell differentiation in action
12-07-2006 · EurekAlert!
Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, San Diego took a high resolution "action shot" of a protein switch that plays a crucial role in the development of the nervous system. Their findings, published in the December 8 issue of the journal Molecular Cell, provide a template for the design of small molecule inhibitors to control that switch, a protein called Scp1, at will.
Similar news · Read more »
Drug improves symptoms of severe Alzheimer's disease
07-30-2007 · EurekAlert!
A drug initially used to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, improved the memory and global function of people with severe Alzheimer's disease and was safe and effective, according to a study published in the July 31, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Similar news · Read more »
Choline shows promise in reducing behavioral effects associated with prenatal alcohol exposure
02-28-2007 · EurekAlert!
Giving choline to infants who were exposed in the womb to alcohol may mitigate some of the resulting problems. Prenatal alcohol exposure affects physical and central nervous system development, putting children at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders that at their worst include full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome. These disorders can mean a lifetime of potentially serious problems with learning, attention, motor skills and social behavior.
Similar news · Read more »
MicroRNA works with Ago2 protein to regulate blood cell development
07-26-2007 · EurekAlert!
MicroRNAs became the stars of the RNA universe, when scientists found that these short RNAs can control whether or not genes are expressed. Provocative new findings cast new light on the genesis of these key biological regulators and how they carry out their function.
Similar news · Read more »
Enzyme inhibitor produces stable disease in patients with advanced solid cell cancers
11-08-2006 · EurekAlert!
Preliminary trials of a MEK enzyme inhibitor have shown that it is capable of producing long-lasting stable disease in patients with advanced solid cancers. Tests showed that the drug inhibited key targets in the patients' tumours, and now it is being tested in phase II clinical trials according to research presented at the 18th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Prague.
Similar news · Read more »