A study shows that tweaking the immune system of the brain with a drug has prevented the development of dementia in mice.
A panel of researchers at Duke University, US, showed that immune cells which to attack the brain’s nutrient is possibly a trigger for dementia. According to them, this discovery could be opening new opportunities of research for a field which hasn’t developed even a single drug till date for slowing the pace of the disease.
New hope for the treatments of dementia has been found.
A major player in the progression of dementia, known as microglia has been identified by researchers. It is generally the first line of defense against the infection in the brain.
It had been discovered that microglia altered to turn remarkably proficient at breaking down a component of protein, an amino acid known as arginine, at the early stages of dementia. The plummeting of arginine levels led to the dampening of the immune cells in the immune system of the brain.
A chemical had been used for blocking the enzymes which are responsible for breaking down arginine in the mouse experiments. It showed that lesser of the characteristics of dementia such as damaged proteins collecting in the brain and the animals also had a better performance in memory tests.
Dr Matthew Kan, one of the researchers said, “All of this suggests to us that if you can block this local process of amino acid deprivation, then you can protect the mouse, at least from Alzheimer’s disease.
“We see this study opening the doors to thinking about Alzheimer’s in a completely different way, to break the stalemate of ideas in Alzheimer’s disease.”
Nonetheless, the findings did not suggest that arginine supplements could fight dementia as boosted levels would still be broken down.
According to Dr James Pickett, from the Alzheimer’s Society this study was “offering hope that these findings could lead to new treatments for dementia”.
He stated that, “This study in animals joins some of the dots in our incomplete understanding of the processes that cause Alzheimer’s disease, in particular around the role played by the immune system.”
Dr Laura Phipps, from Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the study was “interesting” and shed “more light on the mechanisms of immune system involvement in Alzheimer’s”.
However, she cautioned clinical trials in people were still needed and that “the findings do not suggest that supplementation of the amino acid could mirror the benefits seen in these mice”.
