Researchers at the University of Dundee have discovered a little portion of a hormone that could lead to a novel medication treatment for early-stage dementia. Leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone, can mitigate the effects of amyloid and tau, the two toxic proteins in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s.
In a recent study, researchers have reported that a hormone found in the human body could help halt the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s.
Researchers at the University of Dundee have found that a tiny portion of the universally present appetite-suppressing hormone leptin has tremendous effects on the brain, including slowing the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to their research, leptin may mitigate the effects of tau and amyloid, two toxic proteins that accumulate in the brain and cause memory loss and the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Professor Jenni Harvey, the study’s lead author, stated that they are working at the synapses, the communication points in the brain, because synapses are impacted early in the disease process when Alzheimer’s is still treatable. According to their findings, leptin has the potential to considerably slow or even prevent the disease’s progression.
She said they discovered that taking leptin may hamper amyloid and tau’s ability to interfere with synapses and memory loss and avoid the unwanted impacts of these cellular alterations.
The Journal of Neurochemistry published this research [1].
A Potential Alzheimer’s Drug?
The researchers uncovered six amino acid fragments out of 167 in the hormone that retain the potential to inhibit the detrimental effects of amyloid and tau in the brain, slowing or stopping the disease’s progression.
This has allowed researchers to create a potential drug template utilizing smaller leptin fragments.
According to Professor Harvey, new leptin-based medications may take several years to become available. Drug development is a time-consuming procedure that typically takes ten years. Even if one gets developed, it must undergo a series of safety checks before being distributed to patients.
Previous research has investigated leptin’s potential as a tailored treatment for Alzheimer’s. Researchers reviewed the literature on the hormone in 2017 [2]. The study’s authors highlighted that leptin receptors are expressed in the cortex and hippocampus. Which are two primary regions Alzheimer’s affects.
According to earlier research, leptin can shield brain cells and memory processing from the damaging effects of amyloid protein. According to this new research, leptin may also help block the hazardous tau protein’s movement. Which damages the area of the brain involved in memory processing.
It is an intriguing discovery, and conducting such preliminary research is crucial to identifying novel treatment targets for Alzheimer’s. On the other hand, much remains unknown regarding the long-term impact of leptin on tau or brain cells.
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