Scientists discover dementia protein
3/9/2010
Researchers from the US claim to have discovered a protein that may help to prevent the development of dementia.
A team from the Rockefeller University in New York led by Nobel Prize-winning scientist professor Paul Greenard believe that the GSAP protein is central to the build up of amyloid protein that is known to cause dementia, the Irish Times reports.
Reducing the concentration of this chemical can reduce the formation of amyloid clumps and thus the onset of the debilitating disease.
The drug imatinib, normally used for cancer treatment, can block the action of GSAP without harming the function of other tissues, it has been found.
Professor Greenard's research must now find a way to get the drug to cross from the blood stream and into the brain.
According to the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland, there are currently 44,000 dementia patients in Ireland, affecting one in 20 people aged over 65.
