The protein, ABCA1, is one that helps the brain to use cholesterol. Researchers say they found that increasing levels of that protein might slow the development of Alzheimer's disease changes in the brain. The study was done using a mouse model with the disease.
The study appears this month in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Findings mean that altering the brain's use of lipids, a class of fat-soluble compounds that includes cholesterol, might open a new possibility for potential Alzheimer's treatment.
Lead author for the study was David M. Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew and Gretchen Jones Professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine and neurologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Holtzman put the discovery in perspective.
"It's becoming clear that ABCA1 [protein] may be a good drug target for Alzheimer's therapies," Holtzman said in a statement released Thursday. "There are known drugs that can increase ABCA1 levels, and with some further development of this or similar classes of drugs and additional insights into how ABCA1 slows down plaque deposition, there may be a way to create a new approach to Alzheimer's treatment."
Washington University School of Medicine's research is funded by more than $464 million in support, from various sources, that has made possible some 750 individual research projects, including Holtzman's.
