Specific Enzyme Found to Be Elevated in Alzheimer's Patients
Specific Enzyme Found to Be Elevated in Alzheimer's Patients
Oct. 1, 1999 (New York) -- An enzyme that is increased by more than 30-fold in the brains of people who have died from Alzheimer's disease (AD) is helping researchers get closer to understanding how various neurological processes come together to alter brain function. The research appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disease characterized by specific damaged areas in the brain called lesions Although the exact causes are unknown, researchers have concentrated on studying these lesioins in people who have died from the disease in hopes of pinpointing the cause of the dementia. The alterations in the brain lead to the destruction of neurons, the basic nerve cells that carry messages throughout the nervous system. It is believed that the buildup of phosphate in these areas of the brain appears to be involved in causing the loss of these nerve cells.
Researchers think that an enzyme called protein kinase is directly involved in controlling the level of phosphate, which is as much as fivefold higher in Alzheimer's patients compared to other people of the same age with no evidence of Alzheimer's disease. The new research describes high elevations of a specific protein kinase family, known as the casein kinase-1 (CK1) family that appear to be a likely candidate for causing the destructive phosphate buildup.
The new study is a follow-up to previous work showing that protein kinase correlates with elements of Alzheimer's disease onset. The newer study adds credence to earlier findings because the researchers used tissue taken from the brains of four Alzheimer's patients and three nondemented controls within about 9 hours from the time of death. Earlier work used brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients that had been processed in a lab prior to investigation. The specific brain damage seen in Alzheimer's patients can only effectively be studied after the patient has died.
There are three types of lesions in the brain that are felt to be somewhat specific to Alzheimer's disease. An excess amount of the protein kinase was found in all three major lesion types in the brains of the AD patients studied. "The findings are a bit surprising," co-author Jeff Kuret, PhD, tells WebMD. "The molecular link is very important when one is trying to understand the pathway of degeneration that occurs in neurons in Alzheimer's disease." Kuret is associate professor of medical biochemistry at Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus.
Specific Enzyme Found to Be Elevated in Alzheimer's Patients
Oct. 1, 1999 (New York) -- An enzyme that is increased by more than 30-fold in the brains of people who have died from Alzheimer's disease (AD) is helping researchers get closer to understanding how various neurological processes come together to alter brain function. The research appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disease characterized by specific damaged areas in the brain called lesions Although the exact causes are unknown, researchers have concentrated on studying these lesioins in people who have died from the disease in hopes of pinpointing the cause of the dementia. The alterations in the brain lead to the destruction of neurons, the basic nerve cells that carry messages throughout the nervous system. It is believed that the buildup of phosphate in these areas of the brain appears to be involved in causing the loss of these nerve cells.
Researchers think that an enzyme called protein kinase is directly involved in controlling the level of phosphate, which is as much as fivefold higher in Alzheimer's patients compared to other people of the same age with no evidence of Alzheimer's disease. The new research describes high elevations of a specific protein kinase family, known as the casein kinase-1 (CK1) family that appear to be a likely candidate for causing the destructive phosphate buildup.
The new study is a follow-up to previous work showing that protein kinase correlates with elements of Alzheimer's disease onset. The newer study adds credence to earlier findings because the researchers used tissue taken from the brains of four Alzheimer's patients and three nondemented controls within about 9 hours from the time of death. Earlier work used brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients that had been processed in a lab prior to investigation. The specific brain damage seen in Alzheimer's patients can only effectively be studied after the patient has died.
There are three types of lesions in the brain that are felt to be somewhat specific to Alzheimer's disease. An excess amount of the protein kinase was found in all three major lesion types in the brains of the AD patients studied. "The findings are a bit surprising," co-author Jeff Kuret, PhD, tells WebMD. "The molecular link is very important when one is trying to understand the pathway of degeneration that occurs in neurons in Alzheimer's disease." Kuret is associate professor of medical biochemistry at Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus.
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