On 4 August, a research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea reported the development of a new type of protein treatment to reduce the side effects, including severe inflammation, from existing Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatments. Researchers developed a novel fusion protein drug, called anti-Abeta-Gas6, targeting beta-amyloid. In an AD mouse model, it significantly reduced the amount of beta-amyloid accumulated in the brain via an entirely different mechanism than Aβ antibody-based immunotherapy. It works by simultaneously using two brain cells called microglial cells and astrocytes. Importantly, the novel fusion protein drug showed no signs of inflammation and neurotoxicity, which contrasts the neurotoxic inflammatory side effects associated with conventional Aβ monoclonal antibody treatments. Findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine. This fusion protein type treatment is the first to apply this new mechanism of action. It can be applied to other neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, according to the authors. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01926-9
