Scientists have developed potential therapies that selectively remove aggregated tau proteins and improve symptoms of neurodegeneration in mice. The team of scientists are from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC LMB), and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at the University of Cambridge. They say this promising approach for Alzheimer’s disease could also be applied in future to other brain disorders driven by protein aggregation inside cells, such as: motor neuron disease Huntington’s disease Parkinson’s disease Alzheimer’s disease In two papers, published in Cell and Science, they demonstrated how utilising the unique capabilities of a protein called TRIM21 gives the potential therapies two key advantages. Firstly, they only destroyed the disease-linked tau aggregates, leaving healthy tau proteins intact. And secondly, the therapies removed already established tau aggregates in mice, not just preventing the formation of new aggregates. Find out more below
