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The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment
April 25, 2008
Researchers at Max Planck Institute Achieve Alzheimer's Breakthrough
In a research breakthrough, a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease has been developed in Germany, but it may not be practicable for human patients for another 10 years, scientists said Thursday.
The new technique inhibits beta-secretase, an enzyme which is now known to be a main cause of the plaque build-up that is thought to cause Alzheimer's.
A report Thursday in the journal Science described how researchers in Germany used an "anchor" to lodge the inhibitor in mice brains and prevent them succumbing to a mouse version of Alzheimer's.
The research was conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden.
Lodging the inhibitor in the cell membrane "enormously" increased its beneficial effects, the report said.
Kai Simons, a former director of the institute, said the method was a breakthrough in Alzheimer's research, but warned against exaggerated hopes, saying it would take at least 10 years to develop a suitable therapy using the method. (dpa)
Links:
 Max Planck Society
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