Scientists have achieved a breakthrough by discovery a possible new treatment to Alzheimer disease involving attacking the protective wall of the brain.
The initial experimental study was published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, and showed that a novel technique was able to enhance cognitive ability in mice.
The study targets the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which is a protective coating of cells and, in the case of Alzheimer, it becomes ineffective.
This was done by an international group of researchers between China and Spain who targeted this barrier using nanoparticles on a specific protein known as LRP1.
This is a pioneering strategy that has reprogrammed a natural pathway of export that increases the capability of the brain to clear toxic amyloid proteins - a major cause of Alzheimer.
The results were promising. The therapy lowered the amyloid level in the mice by almost 45 percent and caused their spatial learning and memory to improve significantly. The cognitive benefits were astonishingly up to 6 months following the treatment.
Although the experts are calling the research innovative and a new paradigm in designing drugs, they are also cautioning.
Dr. Julia Dudley of Alzheimer research UK stated that the research was part of the mounting research that the repair of the blood-brain barrier itself could provide a new method of treating Alzheimer.
But she insisted that it is too soon to tell whether this procedure will be effective in people because the disease progresses in humans differently.
More studies are essential to establish whether this potential solution can be useful in future to assist the more than one million individuals living with dementia in the UK.