How much brain inflammation occurs post stroke or post TBI? Do we even know? Then would this be useful as a treatment for survivors?
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Funding worth nearly half a million pounds will unite academics at
the University of Southampton with drug discovery experts at the medical
research charity MRC Technology, to target the immune system in the
hunt for new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
The work is the
first to be funded by the Dementia Consortium - a unique £3m drug
discovery collaboration between Alzheimer's Research UK, MRC Technology
and the pharmaceutical companies Eisai and Lilly. By uniting expertise,
this focused cash injection will bridge the gap between academic
research and the pharmaceutical industry in the search for new drugs to
slow the development of Alzheimer's.
Dr Diego Gomez-Nicola and
colleagues at the University of Southampton will build on their current
finding that a protein in the immune system called CSF1R could be the
key to an effective new drug for the disease. Together with drug
discovery experts at MRC Technology, they will seek to develop novel
therapeutics to target the immune system - a double edged sword in the
brain's response to nerve cell death. Researchers now believe that
Alzheimer's disturbs the brain's inflammatory response, causing the
damage associated with the disease.
CSF1R is a key player in
regulating the brain's immune response. In their previous studies in
mice, the Southampton team found that blocking CSF1R can dampen the
inflammatory response to nerve cell death and improve symptoms in other
neurodegenerative diseases. However, the compounds currently available
to block CSF1R are not ideal to take into the clinic, due to unwanted
effects and difficulties getting into the brain. This investment will
allow the researchers to explore other, more targeted approaches to
block CSF1R - important groundwork before any new treatment can go into
testing in people.
Dr Gomez Nicola, Career Track Lecturer and MRC
NIRG fellow at the University of Southampton, said: "Inflammation is
the body's response to damage and something we've all experienced but
sometimes these mechanisms to defend the body go awry. In Alzheimer's
disease, specialised immune cells called microglia are a little too
eager to clear damage. Their ranks swell and activity increases, with
damaging consequences for surrounding nerve cells.
"This project
will allow us to find the best way to interfere with the biological
cascade that leads to an increase in microglia numbers. We know that
targeting CSF1R is being explored as a potential treatment for cancer
and inflammatory conditions, and we hope that by fine-tuning compounds
to act specifically in the brain, this approach could be tested for
benefits in Alzheimer's too. This crucial drug discovery work in cells
and mice should act as stepping stone to develop new treatments that can
halt damaging brain inflammation and nerve cell death."
Dr Eric
Karran, Director of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "It's
been fascinating to see the academic community dissect the role of
inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and learn more about the 'friendly
fire' that takes place during the course of the disease. But now we need
to translate this interesting biology into tangible benefits for the
500,000 people in this country living with Alzheimer's. It's a long road
from research in the laboratory to treatments in the clinic, but
investment to boost the number of new drug targets is critical if we are
to face this huge medical challenge."
Dr Justin Bryans, Director
of Drug Discovery at MRC Technology added: "Our Centre for Therapeutics
Discovery has proven capability in drug discovery and, as a charity, we
are ideally placed between academia and pharma to translate promising
science into effective treatments for patients."
Dr Andy Takle,
Director, Open Innovation, UK, Eisai Ltd., said: "Neuroinflammation is
emerging as a key contributing factor in driving Alzheimer's disease
pathology. The biological mechanisms that underpin this process are
incredibly complex and our understanding relies heavily on information
originating from the academic community. For this reason, we recognise
that collaboration is key in identifying new opportunities to intervene.
As a Dementia Consortium partner on this exciting project, we look
forward to bridging academic expertise with a focused drug discovery
effort to develop new medicines for this devastating disease."
Michael
Hutton, Chief Scientific Officer, Neurodegeneration, Eli Lilly and
Company, said: "Lilly is delighted to support this exciting program as
part of the Dementia Consortium, which offers a new model for
public-private partnership to support drug development in Alzheimer's
disease."
The Dementia Consortium is open to global research
teams with innovative targets that need accelerating through the drug
discovery process. For further information, please visit:
http://www.dementiaconsortium.org/
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