This week’s Nature publication by researchers of Probiodrug AG and the University of Virginia has received broad coverage in the international media. In Germany and Austria, it made major news in TV (ARD, MDR, ORF) and radio stations (dlf, MDR, dradio), while in the US Rudy Tanzi, neurogeneticist of Harvard Medical School and an advisor on the Alzheimer problem to US-President Barack Obama, was quoted in ScienceNews as saying: “This opens up a whole new view of the disease.”

Alzheimer researcher Thomas Bayer, Professor of Molecular Psychiatry  at the University of Goettingen added in MDR INFO that the publication was “a very important contribution”, demonstrating that very small amounts of pGlu Abeta were able to drag normal Abeta peptides along into the deadly cascade and that tau protein was essential for the toxic function.  » Read more...

Nature paper demonstrates that toxicity in AD is induced by pyroglutamate Abeta and is tau protein dependent

Pyroglutamate Ab (“pyroglu Ab”) a predominant, highly toxic fraction of Aβ found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, triggers the formation of toxic oligomers exhibiting prion-like behavior and initiating neurotoxicity via a tau protein-dependent pathway, thereby explaining the crucial role of such modified Aβ in the onset and spread of neuronal toxicity in Alzheimer’s Disease.

HALLE/SAALE, Germany, May 2, 2012 – Probiodrug AG (Probiodrug), a biotech company developing products for the treatment of neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), today announced its scientists and academics collaborators published seminal findings on the role of pyroglu Aβ in AD pathology in the May 2, 2012 online edition of the journal Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature11060). The new findings add to the growing body of evidence that pyroglu Aβ plays a crucial role in the initiation of AD. In addition, the research results further elucidate the mechanism by which pyroglu Aβ triggers neuronal toxicity.  » Read more...

“Forget Alzheimer’s” is the title and the message of a book by German journalist Cornelia Stolze who is claiming to tell the “truth about a disease which isn’t one” (Cornelia Stolze, Vergiss Alzheimer. Die Wahrheit über eine Krankheit, die keine ist, Köln/Cologne 2011: Kiepenheuer & Witsch).

The book is strongly criticizing the handling of dementia, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in today’s medicine, pointing out the lack of adequate diagnostics and therapies and contrasting this sad reality with the often exaggerated promises of imminent breakthroughs by experts.  » Read more...

During the upcoming World Alzheimer Day, the German MDR radio will feature the efforts by German biotechnology company Probiodrug to develop novel strategies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). MDR’s FIGARO am Vormittag morning magazine will introduce the company’s hypothesis on the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and highlight the latest research results published by Probiodrug and co-workers from German and US research institutions in the recent  Journal of Neuroscience.  » Read more...

Probiodrug provides further insights into the onset of AD in The Journal of Neuroscience

Probiodrug AG (Probiodrug), a biotech company developing novel products for the treatment of neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders, today announced the publication of data providing key insights into the onset and development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the Journal of Neuroscience (http://redir.ec/jneurosci).

AD is characterized by deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in the brain. However, quantitative relationship between plaque deposition and severity of cognitive decline in the affected individuals is still elusive. Often, elderly people carry a large amyloid burden without any signs of cognitive impairments, and many animal models of AD also develop the characteristic hallmarks, such as plaques, but do not demonstrate the cognitive defects and loss of neurons typical of the human disease.  » Read more...