Texas A&M University researchers are studying whether an Alzheimer's treatment could slow the disease enough that people live out their natural lifespans before it has a significant effect. The project is led by Ashok K. Shetty of the Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine and Ya Wang of the College of Engineering. It pairs a drug with nanocarriers engineered to deliver the drug to the brain through the nose.
Most Alzheimer's patients are diagnosed in their late 70s or early 80s. Shetty said that successfully slowing disease progression by even 10 years would have a major impact on patients and their families. The project is one of 11 chosen from 112 pre-proposals for an inaugural seedling grant from the Texas A&M Health Dementia and Alzheimer's Research Initiative.
The team's drug, DDL-357, is an experimental small-molecule drug that increases levels of a brain protein called clusterin. Shetty said the approach targets several factors in cognitive decline, not only the buildup of amyloid plaques.