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  • While Pharmacologists Race To Develop Drug That Inhibits Protein That Produces Brain Plaque, Resveratrol Already Does That

    November 20, 2010: by Bill Sardi

    Comment: for all resveratrol-followers out there, researchers find that activation of the 5-lipoxygenase gene is key to the formation of beta amyloid plaque formation in the brain, thought to be involved in Alzheimer’s disease.  While there is no available drug specifically designed to inhibit 5-lipoxygenase, resveratrol, a natural enzyme inhibitor and metal (copper) chelator, inhibits 5-lipoxygenase.

    See references below.  –Bill Sardi


    PMID: 21086486
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101118110851.htm

    Modulating a Protein in the Brain Could Help Control Alzheimer’s Disease

    ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2010) — A protein known to exist in the brain for more than 30 years, called 5-lipoxygenase, has been found to play a regulatory role in the formation of the amyloid beta in the brain, the major component of plaques implicated in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at Temple University’s School of Medicine.

    The researchers also found that inhibitors of this protein currently used to control asthma could possibly be used to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease.

    The researchers published their findings in the Annals of Neurology.

    According to Domenico Praticò, an associate professor of pharmacology in Temple’s School of Medicine and the study’s lead researcher, the 5-Lipoxygenase enzyme is found in abundance mainly in the region of the brain, the hippocampus, involved in memory.

    Praticò and his team discovered that 5-lipoxygenase, which unlike most proteins in the brain increases its levels during the aging process. It also controls the activation state of another protein, called gamma secretase, a complex of four elements which are necessary and responsible for the final production of the amyloid beta, a peptide that when produced in excess deposits and forms plaques in the brain. Today the amount of these amyloid plaques in the brain is used as a measurement of the severity of Alzheimer’s.

    “What we found was 5-lipoxygenase regulates and controls the amount of total amyloid beta produced in the brain,” said Praticò. “With aging, the more 5-lipoxygenase you have the more amyloid beta you’re going to produce. This will translate into a higher risk to develop full Alzheimer’s”

    A previous study by Praticò, in which researchers crossed a mouse model of Alzheimer’s with a mouse that did not genetically feature 5-lipoxygenase, demonstrated that a lack of this enzyme protein alone can reduce the amount of disease in the brain by up to half.

    “It has been known for years that the 5-lipoxygenase is an important protein in other areas of the body, such as the lung, but nobody really cared about its role in the brain,” he said. “Based on some previously know information, we questioned whether this enzyme was a primary or secondary player in the development of Alzheimer’s. What we found was a new primary role for an old enzyme.”

    Praticò said that the key in the process was 5-lipoxygenase’s direct control over the gamma secretase, the only source of amyloid beta in the brain. “If you can modulate this enzyme easily, then you can control the amount of total amyloid beta that is produced by the gamma secretase in the brain, thus controlling the amount of Alzheimer’s disease.”

    Praticò said that armed with new information, new therapies could be developed to block the increase of 5-lipoxygenase levels in the aging brain, which would in turn prevent the formation of amyloid beta.

    He said that there are several FDA-approved 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors currently being used for the treatment of asthma, and that the Temple researchers tested some of these inhibitors in the lab against the production of amyloid beat with initial positive results.

    “These drugs are already on the market, they’re inexpensive and, most importantly, they are already FDA-approved, so you wouldn’t need to go through an intense drug discovery process,” said Praticò. “So you could quickly begin a clinical trial to determine if there is a new application for an old drug against a disease where there is currently nothing.”

    The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association Zenith Fellowship.


    Ann Neurology  2010 Nov 17. [Epub ahead of print]

    5-lipoxygenase as an endogenous modulator of amyloid beta formation in vivo

    Chu J, Praticò D.

    Department of Pharmacology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

    Abstract

    OBJECTIVE: The 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) enzymatic pathway is widely distributed within the central nervous system, and is upregulated in Alzheimer’s disease. However, the mechanism whereby it may influence the disease pathogenesis remains elusive.

    METHODS: We evaluated the molecular mechanism by which 5-LO regulates amyloid β (Aβ) formation in vitro and in vivo by pharmacological and genetic approaches.

    RESULTS: Here we show that 5-LO regulates the formation of Aβ by activating the cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB), which in turn increases transcription of the γ-secretase complex. Preventing CREB activation by pharmacologic inhibition or dominant negative mutants blocks the 5-LO-dependent elevation of Aβ formation and the increase of γ-secretase mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, 5-LO targeted gene disruption or its in vivo selective pharmacological inhibition results in a significant reduction of Aβ, CREB and γ-secretase levels.

    INTERPRETATION: These data establish a novel functional role for 5-LO in regulating endogenous formation of Aβ levels in the central nervous system. Thus, 5-LO pharmacological inhibition may be beneficial in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Ann Neurol 2010.


    Eur J Biochem  1999 Oct 1;265(1):27-34.

    Resveratrol prevents apoptosis in K562 cells by inhibiting lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase activity.

    MacCarrone M, Lorenzon T, Guerrieri P, Agrò AF.

    Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy.

    Abstract

    The natural polyphenolic compound resveratrol (trans-3,4′, 5-trihydroxystilbene) is shown to prevent apoptosis (programmed cell death) induced in human erythroleukemia K562 cells by hydrogen peroxide and other unrelated stimuli. Resveratrol reversed the elevation of leukotriene B4 (from 6.40 +/- 0.65 to 2.92 +/- 0.30 pmol.mg protein-1) and prostaglandin E2 (from 11.46 +/- 1.15 to 8.02 +/- 0.80 nmol.mg protein-1), induced by H2O2 challenge in K562 cells. The reduction of leukotriene B4 and prostaglandin E2 correlated with the inhibition of the 5-lipoxygenase activity, and the cyclooxygenase and peroxidase activity of prostaglandin H synthase, respectively. Resveratrol also blocked lipoperoxidation induced by hydrogen peroxide in K562 cell membranes. Resveratrol was found to act as a competitive inhibitor of purified 5-lipoxygenase and 15-lipoxygenase and prostaglandin H synthase, with inhibition constants of 4.5 +/- 0.5 microM (5-lipoxygenase), 40 +/- 5.0 microM (15-lipoxygenase), 35 +/- 4.0 microM (cyclooxygenase activity of prostaglandin H synthase) and 30 +/- 3.0 microM (peroxidase activity of prostaglandin H synthase). Altogether, the results reported here suggest that the anti-apoptotic activity of resveratrol depends on the direct inhibition of the main arachidonate-metabolizing enzymes.

    PMID: 10491155

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