The field of Alzheimer’s research is one filled with disappointment. [Recently], yet another drug failed its Phase 3 clinical trial, continuing the 15-year-long losing streak since a truly new Alzheimer’s treatment was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
But a team of scientists … say they’ve found early evidence—in mice—that an existing class of drugs can attack Alzheimer’s and similar disorders from a different angle than previous failed attempts.
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Their research, led by Kenneth Kosik, a neurologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has focused on tau as the main driver.
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Related on the SLP
They claim to have found a never-before-seen regulatory pathway in cells that can spark the degradation of healthy tau. This pathway appears to operate through a protein called Rhes, which belongs to a larger family of proteins called Ras. The Ras family is itself regulated by an enzyme called farnesyltransferase. And as luck would have it, there are already drugs known to inhibit farnesyltransferase.
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Kosik doesn’t endorse the idea of steering away from amyloid entirely, but rather to be smarter about how we conduct Alzheimer’s research in general.
Read full, original post: In the Wake of Failed Alzheimer’s Drug Trials, Scientists Are Cautiously Finding Hope With a New Strategy
