New compound ‘could reverse effects of Alzheimer’s disease’

A new study has revealed a promising compound that could potentially be used to reverse some of the harmful effects associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the US have carried out experiments using a molecule called TFP5, derived from the regulator of the key brain enzyme Cdk5, overactivation of which can lead to the formation of Alzheimer's-associated plaques and tangles.

It was found that by injecting this compound into mice affected by an equivalent disease, subjects saw their symptoms reversed and memories restored, without any obvious toxic side effects being recorded.

Dr Harish Pant, a senior researcher at the laboratory of neurochemistry at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, said: "We hope that clinical trial studies in AD patients should yield an extended and a better quality of life as observed in mice upon TFP5 treatment."

Figures from the Alzheimer's Society reveal that dementia affects around 650,000 people in England, with Alzheimer's specifically accounting for around 62 per cent of these cases.