Australian scientists say they have identified a toxin which plays a key role in the onset of Alzheimer’s, raising hope that a drug targeting the toxin could be developed to slow the degenerative brain disease.
The toxin, called quinolinic acid, kills nerve cells in the brain, leading to dysfunction and death, the scientists said.
“Quinolinic acid may not be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, but it plays a key role in its progression,” Alzheimer’s researcher Dr Karen Cullen from the University of Sydney said in a statement. “It’s the smoking gun, if you like.”
“While we won’t be able to prevent people from getting Alzheimer’s disease, we may eventually, with the use of drugs, be able to slow down the progression.”
Alzheimer’s is a brain-destroying disease that affects millions of people around the world. As the population gets steadily older, experts estimate numbers will balloon to as many as 16 million in the United States alone by 2015.
More than 200,000 people have Alzheimer’s disease in Australia and the number is expected to rise to 730,000 by 2050....
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