INTRODUCTION

Principal focus: Alzheimer's disease

Emphasis on translational work now that the elements of the drug discovery pathway are in place.

A central problem in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research is to understand how the nerve cells deteriorate as the disease progresses. The accumulation of the Aβ amyloid protein is the principal marker of the disease, but we need to identify the exact form of this molecule as
it causes damage to the nerve cell synapses.

Biochemical analysis of the Aβ protein

Researchers are currently :

• Analysing the Aβ protein from human and experimental mouse brain tissues;
• purifying the soluble forms of Aβ protein that are the most likely to be involved in Alzheimer's disease;
• Measuring the amounts of the Aβ protein in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease. The studies are part of the larger biomarker discovery project aimed at early diagnosis and intervention (AIBL).

Background

Current knowledge about the role of the Aβ in Alzheimer’s is based on the use of either synthetic Aβ protein or protein that is isolated from the insoluble plaques.

Isolating and characterising the natural peptide from human brain has the potential to dramatically change our understanding of the role of Aβ, and of how it behaves in AD. This information can be utilised to design disease specific drugs.