Drug Discovery

Development of a cell-based platform for drug discovery in tauopathy

Investigator(s): Michael Hutton, Ph.D.

Institution(s): Mayo Clinic

Duration:

Summary:

Over 90% of elderly persons with AD have another medical illness such as hypertension, diabetes or heart disease. These co-morbidities are now considered risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia, including AD. The investigator proposes to study the effect of diabetes on the progression of AD in transgenic mice, proposing that the adding diabetes to AD will hasten onset and increase severity of AD pathology. They will pay particular attention to an enzyme which is part of the insulin signaling pathway and is also involved in producing the plaques and tangles that are the hallmark of AD pathology. The PI will subsequently investigate whether neuroprotective drugs currently being developed for preventing complications of diabetes are neuroprotective in the combined AD+diabetes model.