Metabolic acid block may slow down Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr Gilles Guillemin, head of the Neuroinflammatory group at UNSW, has won a highly-sought after grant that will fund further research into a drug which has the potential to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

“While quinolinic acid might not be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease it is likely to play an important role in the progression of the disease”, Dr Guillemin observed. "The inappropriate activation of that pathway is also found in other major brain pathologies including motor neuron diseases, brain tumours, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia”.

Several drugs, which can block the pathway, are currently under investigation. “If we can block this pathway and the production of quinolinic acid, then this might indicate a new therapeutic target to slow down the progression of this terrible disease,” he said.

“As part of this grant, we have initiated an in vivo study with an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease in collaboration with Dr Roger Chung at the Menzies Research Institute (Tasmania) to test the effectiveness of some of the drugs targeting the pathway”.