New Compound Reverses Alzheimer’s Symptoms

What’s the Latest Development?

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have found that a small molecule called TFP5 works to block overactive brain signals, restoring memory in mice with Alzheimer’s disease. In an experiment, “one set of mice were injected with the small molecule TFP5, while the other was injected with saline as placebo. The mice, after a series of intraperitoneal injections of TFP5, displayed a substantial reduction in the various disease symptoms along with restoration of memory loss.” The mice given injections of TFP5 experienced no toxic side effects while the disease in the placebo mice progressed as expected. 

What’s the Big Idea?

Senior researcher Harish Pant, who was involved with the study at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders at the National Institutes of Health, said, “We hope that clinical trial studies in AD patients yield an extended and a better quality of life, as observed in mice upon TFP5 treatment. We suggest that TFP5 should be an effective therapeutic compound.” The next step for researchers will be to determine if the molecule can have the same effect in people as in mice. Once the molecular source of the disease is isolated, doctors expect far better and more specific treatments than ones currently available. 

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