Category Archives: Research News (General)

The Austrian biotech AFFiRiS AG announced positive results of its Phase I safety trial of a vaccine against alpha-synuclein.

Alpha-synuclein is the sticky protein that clumps in the cells of people with Parkinson’s, and AFFiRiS hopes to stop disease by inducing antibodies against alpha-synuclein accumulation. The Michael J. Fox Foundation funded this work with close to $2M, first with a grant for a pre-clinical study and then $1.5M in 2011 for the Phase I trial. This is the first drug against alpha-synuclein to reach clinical testing.

“A treatment that could slow or stop Parkinson’s progression would be a game changer for the five million worldwide living with this disease and the many more who will become at risk as our population ages,” said MJFF CEO Todd Sherer, PhD. “This trial is one of the most promising efforts toward that goal.”

In two different doses the drug, called PD01A, was safe and tolerable. Half of those vaccinated showed alpha-synuclein antibodies, which is a promising but very early sign. Further trials will test PDO1A’s benefit to patients. The next step is a boost study that will test the safety and effect of a boost vaccination (another dose). MJFF will support that trial, which will take place in Vienna, Austria and start recruiting in September.

Source: PharmaBiz and Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

The priorities of the Italian EU Presidency were recently published under the title “Europe: a Fresh Start”.

For health-related priorities, special importance is being dedicated to the prevention of respiratory diseases, cancer, HIV and consideration of vaccines as an effective tool for public health.

A Presidency Conference on Dementia on 14th November 2014 will focus on the treatment of pain and also palliative therapies.

An additional Presidency Conference entitled “Science with and for Society – Memory: To Know, To Preserve, To Share” will take place on 19th November 2014.

The aim of the second conference is to discuss the achievements of three related European Joint Research Initiatives (JPI-Neurodegenerative Disease/Alzheimer’s, JPI-More Years, Better Lives, JPI-Cultural Heritage), an Article 185 project (Ambient Assisted Living), and a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (SHARE-ERIC). This common effort is directed towards providing reflections, discussion and new tools for revitalizing fading memories due to disease, demographic change, catastrophes and armed conflict.

Source: Italian Presidency website

An article published in the journal Nature Medicine describes that tau protein isoforms of subjects with Huntington’s disease are similar to those produced in known tauopathies (frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration)

This results in an imbalance in the tau protein isoforms and deposits of hyper-phosphorylated tau in neurons and glial cells in the brain.

The study was developed by CIBERNED researchers from the Center for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM) in collaboration with the group CIBERNED at IDIBELL and VU University Medical Center, in Amsterdam.

As explained by one of the co-authors of the study, Isidre Ferrer, director of the Institute of Neuropathology IDIBELL and Chair at the University of Barcelona “in Huntington the same abnormal protein deposits of hyper-phosphorylated tau dont occur like in neurons in known tauopathies, but we could identify alterations in the different isoforms of tau protein in the brain and thus demonstrate that tau is also impaired in Huntington and in murine models of Huntington’s disease.

Source: University of Barcelona

Gardens in care homes could be crucial in helping to stimulate memories for dementia patients, scientists have found.

A Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence entitled “What Is the Impact of Using Outdoor Spaces Such as Gardens on the Physical and Mental Well-Being of Those With Dementia”? was recently published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association.

Lead researcher Rebecca Whear of the University of Exeter said: “There is an increasing interest in improving dementia symptoms without the use of drugs. We think that gardens could be benefiting dementia sufferers by providing them with sensory stimulation and an environment that triggers memories.

“They not only present an opportunity to relax in a calming setting, but also to remember skills and habits that have brought enjoyment in the past,” she said.

The research represents the first attempt to bring together findings from a range of studies and has also highlighted several factors that must be overcome if gardens are to be useful in the future care of dementia patients. These include understanding possible hazards that a garden might represent to residents, and ensuring staff have time to let residents enjoy an outdoor space to its full potential.

Residents at 11 UK care homes were included in the research, as well as services in America, China and Europe.

Source: Nursing Times

Researchers from the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix introduced Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation as their partner in the upcoming Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative ApoE4 trial.

Banner will work with the Swiss pharmaceutical company to test experimental therapies in people who carry two copies of the ApoE4 allele, the major genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The study complements the API ADAD trial, which will test the anti-A? antibody crenezumab in otherwise healthy people who carry an autosomal-dominant AD mutation and typically begin to show signs of the disease by age 50.

“We are excited about the chance to evaluate promising preclinical AD treatments in those at risk for developing AD at older ages,” said Eric Reiman, who leads API together with Pierre Tariot and Jessica Langbaum at Banner. “We previously argued that now is the time to launch a new era in Alzheimer’s prevention research—one in which we could efficiently test the range of preclinical AD treatments and find those that work,” he said.

Source: AlzForum

One in three cases of Alzheimer’s disease worldwide is preventable, according to research from the University of Cambridge.

The main risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease are a lack of exercise, smoking, depression and poor education, the study says. Previous research from 2011 put the estimate at one in two cases, but this new study takes into account overlapping risk factors.

The Cambridge team analysed population-based data to work out the main seven risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.

These are:

Diabetes
Mid-life hypertension
Mid-life obesity
Physical inactivity
Depression
Smoking
Low educational attainment

They worked out that a third of Alzheimer’s cases could be linked to lifestyle factors that could be modified, such as lack of exercise and smoking.

The researchers then looked at how reducing these factors could affect the number of future Alzheimer’s cases. They found that by reducing each risk factor by 10%, nearly nine million cases of the disease could be prevented by 2050.

“Simply tackling physical inactivity, for example, will reduce levels of obesity, hypertension and diabetes, and prevent some people from developing dementia”
said Prof. Carol Brayne, study leader.

Source: Lancet Neurology

A recent Cochrane Review update was published to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of statins in treating Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia.

“Statins for the treatment of dementia” is an update of a Cochrane Review originally published in 2010. Its primary objective is to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of statins in treating Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia.

The Cochrane researchers identified four studies (one more than the 2010 review) meeting the inclusion criteria of high quality, randomised double-blinded placebo-controlled trials with cognition measured as an outcome. There were no studies found on the effect of statins on people with vascular dementia.

The pooled data from the four trials found no evidence that statins help in the treatment of cognitive decline in dementia (as indicated by significant improvement in behaviour, global function or activities of daily living).

A secondary objective of the review was to see if a treatment effect was dependent on cholesterol level, ApoE genotype or cognitive level. The studies did not report any differences depending on ApoE or cognitive level. However, patients with elevated cholesterol levels were excluded from the two larger studies for safety and ethical reasons, and one of the smaller studies reported that people with higher cholesterol level at baseline experienced most cognitive benefit. However, this study was too small to show clinical significance.

A recent paper addresses the challenges and explores opportunities to stimulate repurposing of FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and related diseases.

A new peer-reviewed publication from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) offers strategic insight on how philanthropy, industry and government organizations can advance repurposing of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

The paper, published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, was produced in collaboration with experts from these sectors and highlights the unique challenges and lack of commercial incentives for testing approved drugs in new disease indications, like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, where they might be beneficial.

Source: Digital Journal

The first follow-up conference to last Decembers G8 Summit on Dementia took place recently in London to encourage leading nations to follow the commitments made in 2013.

The Global Dementia Legacy Event on Finance and Social Investment was held in London on 19 June 2014 and is the first of four global Legacy events that follow the G8 Dementia Summit.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) used the event to launch the worlds largest study group for research into dementias. In total two million people will take part in the £16 million project called the UK Dementias Research Platform led by the MRC in addition to support from partners pharmaceutical giants and smaller biotech companies.

Alzheimers Research UK (ARUK) also unveiled at the event a new Defeat Dementia campaign aiming to raise aiming to raise a minimum of £100 million over the next 5 years to defeat dementia and increase research innovation.

You can watch recordings of the full proceedings at the link below:

(see the question to Phillippe Amouyel, Chair of the JPND Management Board at 1:07:26 in the Session 2 video)

A new study suggests there could be a way to harness the brain’s capacity to self-repair and make new brain cells and perhaps preserve brain function in neurodegenerative diseases.

In Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob and other brain-wasting prion diseases, cells in the brain gradually deteriorate, begin to function abnormally, and die. However, some parts of the brain have the capacity to self-repair and make new brain cells.

Writing in the journal Brain, study leader Dr. Diego Gomez-Nicola and colleagues from the Centre for Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton in the UK describe how previous studies have already revealed that even in neurodegenerative diseases there is evidence that the brain carries on attempting to repair itself.

One area of the brain that shows evidence of self-repair or neurogenesis is the dentate gyrus, which forms part of the hippocampus, which controls learning and memory.

Studying the brains of mice with a prion disease, the team found evidence of increased self-repair in the dentate gyrus that partially compensated for the loss of brain cells caused by the disease.

Their detailed investigation helped them identify how the new brain cell populations were generated over time, and how they integrated with existing brain circuits.

The team says they also found evidence to suggest increased self-repair in postmortem brain samples of patients who had variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Alzheimer’s disease when they died.

The authors conclude that the brain has some ability to orchestrate self-repair and suggest there is a time-limited window of opportunity for potential treatments to boost this mechanism and preserve brain function in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Source:  Medical News Today