Peptides for the Diagnosis and Therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease
Reference Number TO 11-00011
The Challenge
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a variety of cognitive disabilities. The disease is accompanied by the occurrence of amyloid plaques in the brain of the patients, mainly consisting of the Aβ peptide, derived from the amyloid precursor protein APP.
To date, detection of the amyloid plaques is the only reliable way for diagnosis of AD in an early state. Unfortunately, this method is only applicable as post mortem tool. In contrast, in vivo imaging methods like magnetic resonance tomography or computer tomography only give evidence for later stages of the disease and furthermore do not specifically indicate the biological nature of the plaques.
For this reason, there is a strong need for non-invasive methods that specifically and sensitively allow the detection of amyloid plaque formation in the brain. Such means would also allow online monitoring of disease progression, being a prerequisite for the identification and development of efficient therapeutics against AD progression and amyloid plaque formation.
The Technology
The technology provides synthetic D-peptides binding to the Aβ peptide moieties in amyloid plaques with high affinity and specificity. The D-peptides were validated in in vitro binding assays and by histological methods. Through chemical modification with standard imaging labels, tissue distribution of the peptides can be detected in vivo. Unpublished experiments in a transgenic mouse model with fluorescence labelled variants of the synthetic D-peptides detected by in vivo-fluorescence imaging techniques indicate that the compounds are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and selectively recognize amyloid plaques in mice.
Commercial Opportunity
In-licensing opportunity for development of
• diagnostic tools for in vivo labelling of amyloid plaques
• therapeutic approaches for AD based on synthetic D-peptides
Patent situation
A Patent Application in Europe is pending (EP 1379546)
Further Reading
Wiesehan et al., ChemBioChem 2003, 4, 748-753
