Hamburg, Germany - A new enzyme-blocking method is being termed a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, according to a team of German researchers. After 10 years of research, the scientists at the Probiodrug bio-pharmaceutical company in Halle, Germany, came up with a method which almost stops the formation of protein deposits which have been associated with Alzheimer's disease.
The enzyme is largely responsible for a small, but very harmful part of the protein deposits called Glutaminyl Cyclase, according to the statement which quoted Hans-Ulrich Demuth and his team at the eastern Germany bio-tech firm Probiodrug.
Stefan Rossner of the Paul Flechsig Institute of the University of Leipzig was tapped by Demuth to study the brain of mice using the method. Rossner found out it could reduce the protein deposits common in Alzheimer's disease in mice brains by up to 80 per cent.
Demuth cautioned, however, that it may take years before scientists come up with medication for 26.6 million Alzheimer sufferers around the world, mostly elderly people.
The findings are to be published in the journal Nature Medicine.
