NSAIDs consortium

The cardinal symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are disturbances in memory and cognitive function caused by the degeneration of neurons in the brain. Currently there is no procedure to achieve early recognition of Alzheimer’s disease; a reliable diagnosis can only be made via neuropsychological tests once cognitive dysfunction is obvious. However, by this time massive damage to the brain has already occurred. It is therefore probable that although a therapeutic intervention at this time may stabilize the patient, there is no possibility of healing the disease. Therefore, when it comes to neurodegenerative diseases, disease prevention is particularly where the emphasis should be.

Evidence from large retro and prospective epidemiological studies has documented that long-term medication with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduces the risk and delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease significantly. However, the molecular mechanisms by which NSAIDs exert their neuroprotective effects remain unclear to date. Several mechanisms have been suggested to account for the protective effects of NSAIDs in Alzheimer’s disease. These include:

• a positive influence on the inflammatory processes in the brain, particularly an activation of brain’s own immune cells, thus counteracting the pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease.
• a suppression of the Aß42 protein (via gamma-secretase modulation). The increased production and aggregation of this proteolytic enzyme is an early and causal step in the development of Alzheimer’s disease..

Biologists, chemists and medical doctors work together in this interdisciplinary consortium to follow the common goal of clarifying the mechanisms behind the preventative affect of NSAIDs in Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, new NSAID-like molecules with optimized pharmacological characteristics will be synthesized using the chemical methods geared towards the development of medicaments ( medicinal chemistry ), and these molecules tested for their ability to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in an animal experimentation platform.