Dr. Gregory Jicha
is leading a team of researchers at the Sanders-Brown Center
on Aging as
part of a national effort to test a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
The GAP (Gammaglobulin Alzheimer’s Partnership) study will examine
the effectiveness of using intravenous immune globulin (IGIV) in individuals
with mild or moderate Alzheimer’s disease. IGIV contains
antibodies that may bind to senile plaques in the brains of those with the
disease and may help to clear this pathology and slow disease progression.
For more information regarding this exciting new clinical trial,
please go to
http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?artid=5115 or to
http://www.adcs.org/Studies/IGIV.aspx for information on recruitment.
If you are interested in enrolling in the study, please contact Ms.
Stephanie Freeman at 859-257-1412 ext 234.
NFATs (nuclear factor of activated T cells) are
transcription factors that accumulate in the cell nucle
us,
where DNA is
stored when calcium levels are elevated. Upon entering the nucleus, NFATs
stimulate (and sometimes inhibit) the expression of numerous genes; most
notably, cytokine genes involved in the orchestration of immune/inflammatory
responses. Using postmortem brain samples provided by the University of
Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging,
Dr. Hafiz Mohmmad Abdul, in the
laboratory of Christopher Norris, discovered that different clinical and
pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease are associated with elevations
in the nuclear accumulation of different NFAT proteins. One of these
proteins (NFAT1) showed increased accumulation in patients with very mild
cognitive deficits, while another (NFAT3) was selectively elevated in
patients with severe Alzheimer’s disease. The Norris lab next investigated
NFATs’ function in astroglia cell cultures. Astroglia are the most abundant
cell type in brain and play a critical role in triggering and maintaining
deleterious neuroinflammation found in Alzheimer's and other
neurodegenerative conditions. Graduate students in the Norris lab,
Michelle Sama (now a post doc at
Dartmouth) and Jennifer Furman,
found that pathogenic amyloid beta peptides, which are found in the
Alzheimer’s disease brain, robustly stimulated NFAT in astroglia. Perhaps
most importantly, selective blockade of astroglial NFAT signaling reduced
the amount of neuronal damage inflicted by amyloid peptides. These
observations suggest that NFAT proteins may play an important role in
aberrant calcium signaling and neuroinflammation associated with dementia
and neurodegeneration. The Norris laboratory is continuing this work and
will use novel gene delivery approaches to selectively prevent NFAT
activation in astrocytes, with the goal of reducing neuroinflammation and
ameliorating neural/cognitive dysfunction due to Alzheimer’s-like pathology.
This exciting new study was just published in the
Journal of Neuroscience, Volume 29: 12957-12969.
On November 14,
2009 we will be holding the 2009
Sanders-Brown Scientific Symposium! This event will
be held at the Lexington Downtown Hotel (369 West Vine Street) and hosted by
Dr. Markesbery, Dr. Jicha and Stephanie Freeman. The
symposium will feature presentations from scientists at the Center including
Dr. Steve Scheff, Dr. Elizabeth Head, Dr. Allan Butterfield and Dr. Fred
Schmitt. In addition to talks, there will be a wonderful
opportunity for attendees to meet Center scientists one-on-one and browse
through posters prepared by our up and coming young researchers.
This event also provides us with an opportunity to show you how
scientific breakthroughs are not possible without your dedication and
generous time contribution. Please RSVP to 859-323-5550.
We hope to see you there!
Dr. Stephen
Scheff, Associate Director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has been
award
ed a 2 year grant from the National Institutes on Health to study ways
in which to treat traumatic brain injury. Dr. Scheff has
shown that inflammation and loss of mitochondrial function (tiny batteries
that are inside every cell in the body that provide energy) may lead to
brain cell loss after trauma. For this study, he will
test a new compound, Pycnogenol ® in rats that may reduce brain damage after
trauma by lowering inflammation and making mitochondria healthier.
Based upon the results of his study, this compound may potentially be
useful for treating people with head trauma in future clinical trials. October
2, 2009
Drs. Elizabeth
Head and Frederick Schmitt
have been awarded a 5-year grant for a
dedicated study of aging in adults with Down syndrome.
The goals of the project are to follow clinical changes in adults with Down
syndrome as they age, to examine brain changes using magnetic resonance
imaging and to measure blood biomarkers. In combination,
the study hopes to identify early markers of the development of Alzheimer
disease in this very vulnerable population. This longitudinal project is a
team effort and includes UK and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging faculty: Dr.
Gregory Jicha, Dr. Allison Caban-Holt, Dr. Brian Gold, Dr. Richard Kryscio,
Dr. William Robertson, Dr. Stephen Scheff, Dr. Peter Nelson, Dr. Harry
LeVine and Dr. Christopher Norris. In addition, Dr. Tony
Wyss-Coray at Stanford University School of Medicine is a collaborator.
October 1, 2009
Dr. Harry LeVine
has just published a new book titled “The Great Explainer.
The Story of Richard Feynman”. Richard Feynman
approached complex problems in atomic particle physics the same way he fixed
radios as a 13-year old during the Depression. He mentally put himself
inside the problem, visualizing radio signals coursing through the
components of the radio or later subatomic particles traveling backwards and
forwards through space and time. A key figure in the development of the
atomic bomb by age 24, Feynman decided after the war that he would only work
on things that were fun. He conjured up intuitive pictures to replace
laborious calculations to solve problems, but once the challenge was gone he
moved on. Feynman received the Nobel Prize in 1965 jointly with two other
physicists for explaining the forces holding nuclei together, but he also
made seminal contributions to superconductivity, quarks, and nanotechnology.
His engaging lectures captivated a generation of physicists, but the public
knows him for solving the Challenger shuttle disaster. If
you are interested, the book can be found on Amazon and is available to the
general public. October 1, 2009
Dr. Peter Nelson
and faculty at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging including Erin Abner, Dr.
Frederick Schmitt, Dr. Richard Kryscio, Dr. Gregory Jicha, Dr. Karen
Santacruz, Dr. Charles Smith, Ms. Ela Patel and Dr. William Markesbery
published a new article in the Journal
of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology (2009, 68: 774-784).
In this paper Dr. Nelson noted that there are changes in the brains
of some older individuals that resemble Alzheimer’s disease in some ways but
not in others. In Alzheimer’s disease brains, both
neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques are present.
When evaluating a brain after autopsy, their presence and abundance
determine how the definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is made.
Neurofibrillary tangles develop inside nerve cells and seem to kill
nerve cells, which leads to the loss of cognitive powers in the disease.
Amyloid plaques develop outside nerve cells and nobody knows what
they do. Curiously, some persons have tangles but not
plaques. What is going on here? Dr.
Nelson and colleagues found that persons with those brain changes (tangles,
but no plaques) were born during years (1909-1914) when they had the highest
tendency to contract influenza during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that
affected some 30% of Americans. This provides a novel
hypothesis that the flu can lead to delayed brain changes that overlap with
Alzheimer’s disease. This also provides insights both
into how the flu affects the brain, and the pathways that are aberrantly
stimulated in Alzheimer’s disease. October 1,
2009
Dr. Paul Murphy
has been invited to give a seminar at the 39th
Annual Soc
iety for Neuroscience Meeting. This internationally attended
meeting typically hosts over 30,000 scientists and provides an opportunity
to share research ideas (www.sfn.org).
Dr. Murphy will speak at an Exclusive Symposium titled “Knockout Rats in
Neuroscience Research: Perspectives from the Field” sponsored by SAGE Labs.
This year the meeting is in Chicago, Illinois from October 17-21.
The Sanders-Brown Center on Aging was pleased to
accept a donation provided by the American Legion
Women’s Auxiliary through the dedicated efforts of Ms. Diane Spencer, who
serves as the National President. A full description of this award is
provided at the University of Kentucky News Website
(Click here) .
This generous gift will support research efforts into the causes and cures
for Alzheimer disease at our Center. Dr. Steven Scheff
(Click here), Associate
Director of the Center, accepted the donation on the Center’s behalf.
All of us at the Center express our sincere appreciation to Ms. Spencer and
the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary!
The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk is coming up!!
Stephanie Freeman at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has organized a team
and we encourage you to join us. The walk is on Saturday, October 10
at the Masterson Station Park. Registration is at 8:30 am and the walk
begins at 9:30 am. Even if you cannot attend the walk – feel free to
sponsor our team. This annual event takes
place all around the country and raises funds to support families with Alzheimer disease, for education and
for research. Our team is at
http://memorywalk2009.kintera.org/lexington/sbcoa
August 20, 2009.
Dr. William Markesbery
Click here wins prestigious Zaven
Khachaturian Award. Dr. William Markesbery, the Director of the
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging was selected this year for a Khachaturian
Award. This distinguished award, named in honor of Dr. Zaven Khachaturian,
was established to recognize an individual whose compelling vision, selfless
dedication and extraordinary achievement has significantly advanced the
field of Alzheimer science (http://www.alz.org/icad/icad_awards.asp#markesbery)).
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Markesbery for this well-deserved
lifetime achievement and honor!
Dr. Harry LeVine IIIrd
Click here has been awarded a CART grant
(http://www.afar.org/CART.html) and joins a list of top researchers in the
country who have previously won this award. This study will be ongoing for 2
years and will use a PET imaging agent in clinical trials for early
detection of Alzheimer's disease, to study why only humans get this
dementing disease.
Dr. Gregory Jicha Click here
was spotlighted by the University of Kentucky for his dedication to reaching
out to patients with Alzheimer disease across the State using telemedicine (http://www.ccts.uky.edu/Spotlights/jicha.aspx) and
(Memory
Disorders Education Program Offered to Rural Kentucky).
Dr.
Jicha was also invited to describe how researchers, including many at the
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, are developing new ways in which to treat
Alzheimer disease.
(http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/867044.html?storylink=pd).
