Excess iron needs to be ‘fine-tuned’

A drug to prevent Alzheimer’s disease could be developed tomorrow – it’s just a matter of persuading the “big guys” that it’s important, says Melbourne’s Mental Health Research Institute head researcher, Professor Ashley Bush.

Professor Bush published new findings in the journal Nature Medicine which he hopes will lead to treatments that halt the progression of Alzheimer’s and ones that reverse the damage. The answer, he says, may lie with excess iron in the brain.

“Iron can rust whether it is on a fence or in your brain,” he tells AdelaideNow, adding the brain requires a finely tuned balance of iron, zinc and copper.

“(These minerals) have the potential to be toxic if they’re not controlled properly; and in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease there is a failure of the system that controls these levels microscopically.”

Professor Bush and his colleagues report a protein called tau is what regulates iron levels in the brain, describing it as one of the proteins that is “messed up in Alzheimer’s”.

The research evaluated normal mice and genetically modified mice which lacked the tau protein, and found after six months the mice were indistinguishable. But at the seven month mark, the tau-free mice started exhibiting the same symptoms as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease sufferers.

Researchers also examined the effect of a drug, clioquinol, on the Alzheimer-affected mice and found it had “completely prevented the onset of neuro-degeneration” in the tau-free mice.

He says there is now sufficient evidence to support the next stage of drug development using large-scale international human trials. However, none of the big pharmaceutical companies are reportedly developing the drug for use in brain disease.

If brain tissues were regenerated, Professor Bush says “a person might be able to access their existing memories once more”.