Stephen C Schimpff's Blog Posts Tagged 'Alzheimer’s' (2)

For a parent of a child with cystic fibrosis, a new drug that could eradicate symptoms could be a God send. The same could be said of a parent of child with Angelman’s syndrome. For a patient with lung cancer, a drug that is more than marginally effective would be wonderful. And for a person with early Alzheimer’s or their loved ones, a drug that might actually reverse the disease would be incredible.

 

New drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regularly.…

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A protein recently found in the brain -- gamma secretase activating protein or GSAP -- increases the production of beta-amyloid, the presumed culprit in Alzheimer’s disease. In a mouse model, reducing GSAP led to reduced beta-amyloid disposition. This prompts in turn the appealing notion that a drug could be found to inhibit GSAP and thereby forestall or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.



Imatinib (Gleevec, used to treat chronic myelocytic leukemia or CML) does inhibit GSAP… Continue