Compound Restores Memory Function in Mouse Alzheimer’s Model

Researchers from Yale School of Medicine have discovered a promising new drug compound that reverses some Alzheimer’s effects on memory in mice.

The work directly stems from a 2008-11 BrightFocus grant to Paul Lombroso, MD, who’s on the Yale neurobiology and psychiatry faculty and directs its Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology. He is senior author of a report published in PLoS Biology August 5.

They found that a protein drug compound, known as TC-2153, blocks the Alzheimer’s disease linked effects of another protein called striatal-enriched tyrosine phosphatase (STEP). At high levels, STEP prevents synaptic strengthening in the brain—something vital to memory function.

It’s actually one of several breakthroughs tied to this BrightFocus grant, which included 2000 Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard, PhD, of Rockefeller University, as coinvestigator. Four years ago…

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