Research led by the University of Helsinki has succeeded in showing how the accumulation of a harmful protein causing memory disorders, among other things, is blocked by a so-called PREP inhibitor.
A protein accumulation similar to Parkinson's disease can also be seen in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias where b-amyloid forms plaques and Tau protein forms aggregates within the cells, called neurofibrillary tangles. The current view is that the formation of Tau aggregates eventually leads to neuronal death, and Tau accumulation correlates well with clinical symptoms. Tau is particularly important for dementias called Tauopathies that include e.g. frontotemporal dementia.
In a freshly published paper, Professor Timo Myöhänen's group from the Universities of Helsinki and Eastern Finland showed that a PREP inhibitor reduces Tau accumulation and toxicity also in the cellular models, including patient-derived neurons from frontotemporal dementia patients.
