Sugar-coated nanotherapy dramatically improves neuron survival in Alzheimer's model

Sugar-coated nanotherapy dramatically improves neuron survival in Alzheimer's model

In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together in brain tissue. Scientists developed a new therapy made of peptides and a sugar that naturally occurs in plants. The therapeutic molecules self-assemble into nanofibers, which bond to the neuron-killing proteins. Now trapped, the toxic proteins can no longer enter neurons and instead harmlessly degrade.

A study by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and Northwestern University (USA) published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on Wednesday reported on a new nanotherapy for neurodegenerative diseases such as […]

Sugar-coated nanotherapy dramatically improves neuron survival in Alzheimer’s model

In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together around brain cells, which ultimately leads to cell death. The innovative new treatment effectively traps the proteins before they can aggregate into the toxic structures capable of penetrating neurons. The trapped proteins then harmlessly degrade in the body. The “clean-up” strategy significantly boosted the survival of lab-grown human neurons under stress from disease-causi…