A Billion Years of Evolution Suggests a New Approach for Alzheimer's Treatment

New research published in Autophagy recommends scientists seeking a cure for Alzheimer concentrate on the role of proteins in the brain that cause the disease, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers determined the gamma secretase complex controls autophagy in a single-celled organism amoeba, which shared a common ancestor with humans around 1 billion years ago. The retention of this role in autophagy highlights its critical importance in cell health, with implications that researchers should explore this process to develop new Alzheimer's treatments. Using the amoeba, Dictyostelium, as a model to probe the gamma secretase complex's role, the study's authors deleted individual proteins from the complex and tracked changes in cell function. They determined when proteins from the complex were deleted, the process of autophagy was inhibited, and cells could not recycle proteins. "These findings suggest that the role of the gamma secretase complex is conserved across a huge evolutionary distance, indicating a fundamentally important role in maintaining healthy cells," says Royal Holloway, University of London Professor Robin SB Williams. "From this, we propose that researchers looking to find new approaches to treat . . . Alzheimer's disease should focus on restoring normal levels of autophagy in neurons of Alzheimer's disease sufferers to block the death of brain cells in these persons."