Optimism for the Future of Amyloid- β Clearance
In today's popular science article, the SENS Research Foundation offers a more rosy picture of the near future of amyloid-β clearance than is the usual fare these days. Amyloids are misfolded or otherwise altered proteins that can aggregate to form solid deposits that disrupt cellular biochemistry. In principle they should all be removed. Their existence is a form of harmful change that takes place with age, and the connections to cell dysfunction are quite clear. The failure of amyloid-β clearance to produce meaningful benefits in Alzheimer's patients has led to some disillusionment, however.
Alzheimer's may be a...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 21, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 19th 2023
In conclusion, among Swedish middle-aged subjects, nearly two-thirds showed complete fatty degeneration of thymus on CT.
Age-Related Dysfunction of Water Homeostasis
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/06/age-related-dysfunction-of-water-homeostasis/
Dehydration can be an issue in older people. As in every complex system in the body, the mechanisms by which hydration is regulated become dysfunctional with advancing age. Researchers here look at the brain region responsible for regulating some of the response to dehydration, cataloging altered gene expression in search of the more important mechan...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 18, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Soluble ADAM10 to Reduce Amyloid- β in the Brain
The research and development community continues to focus on amyloid-β as a primary target in Alzheimer's disease, despite the failure to produce meaningful benefits in patients in human clinical trials of immunotherapies targeting amyloid-β. It may yet prove to be the case that safer approaches than immunotherapies, used widely to reduce amyloid-β prior to the development of symptoms, could lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease. It seems evident that extracellular amyloid-β is not the right target in later stages of the condition, however.
Accumulation of amyloid β in the brain is regarded as a key initiato...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 14, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Demyelination Accelerates Amyloid- β Aggregation
Nerves require myelin sheathing in order to function correctly. With age, some degree of dysfunction in myelin maintenance takes place, with consequent cognitive and other nervous system degeneration as a consequence. This loss of myelin integrity takes place to a lesser degree than is the case in severe demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Nonetheless, that lesser degree may be contributing to the early stages of Alzheimer's disease by reducing immune clearance of amyloid-β aggregates.
At present a question hovers over the role of amyloid-β in Alzheimer's disease due to the failure of amyloid-clea...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 13, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 15th 2023
In this study, we examined the average telomere length and telomerase activity, as well as the formation of telomere associated foci (TAFs) and the mRNA expression levels of the shelterin components in cultured primary cells of Spalax, a long-lived, hypoxia-tolerant, and cancer-resistant blind mole-rat species.
We showed that with cell passages, Spalax fibroblasts demonstrated significant shortening in telomere length, similar to rat cells, and in line with the processes observed earlier in tissues. We also demonstrated that the average telomere length in Spalax fibroblasts was significantly higher than the average ...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 14, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The New Alzheimer's Therapies are Not What One Would Call Successful
The first batch of immunotherapies demonstrated to be capable of clearing extracellular amyloid-β from the brain have performed poorly in late stage Alzheimer's patients. Data is beginning to emerge for their ability to modestly slow down the progression of the condition at earlier stages, however. This somewhat fits with the amyloid cascade hypothesis, in that it is evidence to support the idea that amyloid-β is no longer important to disease progression once the condition has reached the stage of becoming a feedback loop involving tau aggregation, chronic inflammation, and cell death.
Unfortunately, it isn't str...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 11, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Should doctors prescribe lecanemab (Leqembi) to women? The answer, given available evidence, is probably No
This article is an edited combination of two previous blog posts by him at www.skin2neuron.org.
News in Context:
CMS: anti-amyloid drug Leqembi (lecanemab) doesn’t meet the “reasonable and necessary” standard required for wider Medicare coverage
The post Should doctors prescribe lecanemab (Leqembi) to women? The answer, given available evidence, is probably No appeared first on SharpBrains. (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - May 10, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Prof. Michael Valenzuela Tags: Brain/ Mental Health amyloid amyloid antibodies amyloid removal CLARITY trial Clinical Dementia Rating immunotherapy lecanemab Leqembi women Source Type: blogs
Career Conversations: Q & A With Biochemist Prabodhika Mallikaratchy
Credit: CUNY School of Medicine.
“One of the biggest things I hope for in my career is that in 20 years, I still feel the same joy and enthusiasm for research and training that I feel now,” says Prabodhika Mallikaratchy, Ph.D., a professor in the department of molecular, cellular, and biomedical sciences at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine. Dr. Mallikaratchy talks with us about her career path, research on developing new immunotherapies and molecular tools using nucleic acids, and her belief in the importance of being passionate about your career.
Q: How did you first become interested in ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques DNA Medicines Profiles Proteins Source Type: blogs
Reviewing T Cell Immunotherapies to Treat Cancer
The use of immunotherapies will most likely replace chemotherapy and radiation therapy for the treatment near all cancers over the next twenty years, and has already done so for many types of cancer. We should expect immunotherapies to in turn be replaced by approaches that target the telomere lengthening essential to all cancers. The wheel turns slowly, but this progress will lead steadily to an end to the suffering and loss of life accompanying cancer. Cancer will become a mild, annoying but controllable condition within a matter of decades, within the lifetimes of most of those reading this now. The review paper noted h...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Immunotherapy Implant to Treat Pancreatic Cancer
Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed an implant that can provide localized and sustained release of immunotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer. Their device is tiny, at approximately the size of a grain of rice, and they have termed it a “nanofluidic drug-eluting seed”. Pancreatic cancer is particularly difficult to treat, and current therapies have problems penetrating the tumor while resulting in significant side-effects elsewhere in the body. This device is intended for implantation in the tumor, where it releases monoclonal antibodies that can prime the immune system to begin to destroy the tumor...
Source: Medgadget - May 8, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Oncology Urology HoustonMethodist prostate CA prostate cancer Source Type: blogs
Bottlebrush Nanoparticles Deliver Immunostimulatory Drugs
Researchers at MIT have developed a nanoparticle system that is designed to deliver immunostimulatory drugs to tumors. These drugs are intended to stimulate immune cells in the vicinity of tumors to begin destroying tumor cells, but when delivered systemically they cause unacceptable dose limiting side-effects such as systemic inflammation. These particles are bottle-brush shaped, with the inactive drug being conjugated to the “brush backbone”. By tweaking the formulation of the particles, the researchers can fine tune their release profile, and have been able to create particles that will accumulate at the tumor witho...
Source: Medgadget - May 3, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Nanomedicine mit Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 17th 2023
In conclusion, oral NR altered the gut microbiota in rats and mice, but not in humans. In addition, NR attenuated body fat mass gain in rats, and increased fat and energy absorption in the HFD context.
Glycine Supplementation as a Methionine Restriction Mimetic
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/04/glycine-supplementation-as-a-methionine-restriction-mimetic/
Supplementation with the non-essential amino acid glycine has been shown to modestly slow aging in short-lived laboratory species. In today's open access review paper, researchers note glycine supplementation as essentially a calorie restricti...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 16, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Immunotherapies Targeting Amyloid- β May Produce Brain Shrinkage
Immunotherapies offer great potential, but are not without side-effects as presently implemented. This is well demonstrated in the cancer field, where a chance of severe short-term, or even lasting immune-related issues is a risk that patients are willing to take given the alternatives on the table. Here, researchers suggest that the immunotherapies tested against Alzheimer's disease in clinical trials are producing an accelerated shrinkage of brain tissue, perhaps because of raised inflammation. In recent years, these immunotherapies have succeeded in clearing extracellular amyloid-β, but have not improved patient outcom...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 20th 2023
This study also provides the potential for de novo generation of complex organs in vivo.
T Cells May Play a Role in the Brain Inflammation Characteristic of Neurodegenerative Conditions
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/03/t-cells-may-play-a-role-in-the-brain-inflammation-characteristic-of-neurodegenerative-conditions/
Alzheimer's disease, and other forms of neurodegenerative condition, are characterized by chronic inflammation in brain tissue. Unresolved inflammatory signaling is disruptive of tissue structure and function. Here, researchers provide evidence for T cells to become involved in thi...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 19, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Lysosomal Overloading Hypothesis of Alzheimer's Disease
Novel immunotherapies for Alzheimer's disease have in recent years finally succeeded in clearing toxic extracellular amyloid-β aggregates from the brain in human clinical trials. Nonetheless, this advance has failed to meaningfully improve patient outcomes. This outcome has led to renewed theorizing on the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease, in search of an explanation as to how amyloid-β can be so clearly associated with the condition, but fail as a target for therapy.
Some researchers focus on chronic inflammation as the primary mechanism of disease progression, seeing amyloid-β aggregation as a side-effect at b...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 15, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
