Drug Discovery
Somatostatin Agonist Treatment for Cognitive Aging
and Dementia
Investigator(s):
Ken A. Witt, Ph.D.
Institution(s): Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
Duration:
Summary:
Somatostatin is an inhibitory hormone, whose main
actions are to regulate secretion of other hormones. Somatostatin has been
shown to be significantly decreased in humans suffering from AD and is
thought to represent a pathological characteristic of AD. A novel avenue for
treating AD therefore, is in the use of drugs targeting somatostatin
receptors (SSTRs). Recent studies have demonstrated that somatostatin
specifically regulates neuronal neprilysin (NEP) activity, a potent
Ab-degrading enzyme. With this understanding, SSTRs agonists may provide a
potent drug strategy for the treatment of AD, with the potential to halt the
progression of the disease. The goals of this proposal are to examine the
effects of a novel non-peptide SSTR agonists in a mouse model of cognitive
aging and dementia, associated with Ab.