Alzheimer's enzyme identified

Scientists say they have found an enzyme in the brain that can help protect against Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders.

Researchers found that the naturally occurring enzyme prevents protein tangles forming among the brain's nerve cells.

The tangles - bunches of long stringy protein - lead to the destruction of neurons, resulting in symptoms of dementia.

The enzyme, called Pin1, promotes the removal of phosphates from the protein which prevents it forming tangles.

Chief researcher Dr Kun Ping Lu, from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, first identified the enzyme in 1995.

His team compared Pin1 in different brain regions of both healthy individuals and people with Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers also created a genetically engineered mouse to study what happened when the Pin1 gene is removed.

The results showed that Pin1 is needed to ensure that neurons function normally and do not fall victim to age-related neurodegeneration.

"Our findings showed that Pin1 expression inversely correlates with neuronal vulnerability to degeneration in normal brains, and with the actual formation of tangles in patients with Alzheimer's," said Dr Lu.

The team also discovered that in the Pin1 knockout mouse, the removal of the Pin1 gene alone was sufficient to cause many age-dependent neurodegenerative changes.

Pin1 is also dramatically over-produced in many human cancers, Dr Lu found.

He believes the enzyme may provide a missing link between certain cancers and Alzheimer's, both of which become more prevalent with advancing age.

The findings were reported in the journal Nature.

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