WASHINGTON, D.C.: Melbourne researchers believe snake venom may hold the key to destroying plaques that cause Alzheimer’s disease, offering new hope for a drug that could prevent the disease taking hold in newly-diagnosed people.
The discovery, by scientists at Monash University, uses venom from a ‘pit viper’ snake found in parts of South and Central America to tackle amyloid beta, a toxic protein that causes Alzheimer’s.
In healthy bodies, the protein is broken down by enzymes as it forms and accumulates but in patients who have the disease the enzymes cease working and amyloid beta builds up, causing plaque deposits that result in severe harm.
There has long been a race among researchers to find a drug that reactivates enzymes, allowing the body to continue breaking down amyloid beta and Monash researchers Dr. Sanjaya Kuruppu, and Professor Ian Smith from the university’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute believe they have found the answer…