Researchers areworking to develop new potential treatments to limit the enzyme PTP1B, which may contribute to memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists have found a potential new way to slow memory loss in Alzheimer’s, a neurodegenerative disorder that gradually damages memory and thinking, according to a new study.
Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a non-profit institution in New York, have found that an enzyme called PTP1B contributes to memory decline in mice with the condition.
Their findings reveal a new role for the enzyme in immune cell signalling and suggest it could be a promising treatment approach for Alzheimer’s disease.
The study’s corresponding author and a professor at the lab, Nicholas Tonks, has studied the enzyme’s role in health and disease since discovering PTP1B in 1988.
Tonks and his team found that reducing PTP1B activity helped the brain’s immune cells clear amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, protein build-ups associated with Alzheimer’s disease. These immune cells, known as microglia, normally remove debris in the brain but become less effective as the disease progresses.
The study suggests that PTP1B interacts with a protein called spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), which regulates how microglia respond to damage and clear Aβ.
“Over the course of the disease, these cells become exhausted and less effective,” said Yuxin Cen, the study lead.
“Our results suggest that PTP1B inhibition can improve microglial function, clearing up Aβ plaques,” Cen added.
PTP1B is already known to play an important role in metabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, two other well-recognised risk factors for the neurodegenerative disorder.
New pathway for treatment
The laboratory is now working to develop PTP1B inhibitors for multiple applications.
For Alzheimer’s disease, Tonks envisions a combination of therapies that pair existing approved drugs with PTP1B inhibitors.
According to the World Health Organization, cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil are currently used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, while NMDA receptor antagonists such as memantine are prescribed for more advanced stages.
“The goal is to slow Alzheimer’s progression and improve the quality of life of the patients,” said Tonks.
More than 55 million people live with dementia globally, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for up to 70 percent of cases, according to the WHO.
“It’s a slow bereavement,” said Tonks, whose mother lived with Alzheimer’s. “You lose the person piece by piece.”
