A new drug developed by scientists at Northwestern University could offer an exciting way to slow or prevent Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms even appear.
The drug, called NU-9, was recently tested in a study on mice and showed powerful effects against early brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
These findings provide new hope for treating the disease in its early stages, before memory loss and other problems begin.
Alzheimer’s disease does not start suddenly. It develops gradually in the brain, often several years before people notice symptoms. At this early stage, clumps of harmful proteins called beta-amyloid oligomers begin to form.
These groups of toxic proteins can damage brain cells, cause inflammation and trigger immune responses. The recent study discovered a previously unknown subtype of these toxic proteins that appears particularly harmful in the early stages of the disease.
Researchers have found that NU-9 can reduce this toxic protein subtype and prevent much of the damage it causes. When given to mice showing early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the drug reduced inflammation in the brain, reduced the number of toxic protein clumps, and helped brain cells stay healthy.
NU-9 even reduced levels of another harmful protein called TDP-43, linked to memory and thinking problems in Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.
This research represents a major breakthrough in science because it aims to stop Alzheimer’s disease early, before symptoms appear and before major brain damage occurs.
