Alzheimer’s hopes over boosting brain detox

Ramping up the brain’s garbage disposal system could open up a completely new way of treating Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, scientists believe.

Tests on the brains of dead Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease patients flagged up an abnormality that interferes with autophagy, the natural clearing out and recycling of unwanted toxic proteins.

An experimental molecule was able to undo this defect in mice modelling both diseases, allowing their nerve cells to rid themselves of the toxins.

Scientists hope the early research could lead to new drug treatments that prevent brain damage from harmful accumulating “rubbish”.

Lead scientist Dr Charbel Moussa, from Georgetown University Medical Centre in the US, said: “Activation of these cell receptors appears to prevent brain cells from cleaning out the trash – the toxic build-up of proteins ... common in neurodegenerative diseases.”

It is the first time scientists have been able to demonstrate that ‘discoidin domain receptors’ play a role in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. They have already been implicated in the progression of cancer.