There’s a constant stream of new research about slowing down Alzheimer’s, or preventing it entirely. But what about treatment if the disease has already started? Is there a treatment for helping people to actually regain lost memory?
As reported here, a new study looked at repairing damaged brain synapses, with the help of a protein, called KIBRA.
From the article: “Since most current research on potential treatments for Alzheimer’s focuses on reducing the toxic proteins, such as tau and amyloid beta, that accumulate in the brain as the disease progresses, the team veered away from this route to explore an alternative. ‘Rather than trying to reduce toxic proteins in the brain, we are trying to reverse the damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease to restore memory,” said Tara Tracy, PhD, senior author of the study.”
They focused on KIBRA (so named because it’s found in both the kidney and the brain). “It is primarily localized at the synapses, which are the connections between neurons that allow memories to be formed and recalled. Research has shown that KIBRA is required for synapses to form memories, and Tracy’s team has found that brains with Alzheimer’s disease are deficient in KIBRA.”
The team found that higher levels of KIBRA in the cerebrospinal fluid of humans — but lower levels in the brain — corresponded with the severity of dementia. Could this lower level affect the signalling at the synapse? “The team created a shortened functional version of the KIBRA protein. In laboratory mice that have a condition mimicking human Alzheimer’s disease, they found that this protein can reverse the memory impairment associated with this type of dementia. They found that KIBRA rescues mechanisms that promote the resilience of synapses.”
What was interesting was that this happened without fixing the problem of toxic protein accumulation, which is associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The toxic protein continued to accumulate, yet the synaptic function improved. This could have big implications going forward, according to Tracy: “Reducing toxic proteins is of course important, but repairing synapses and improving their function is another critical factor that could help. That’s how I see this making the biggest impact in the future.”