Anti-inflammatory clearance of amyloid-β by a chimeric Gas6 fusion protein

Clearing brain plaques without inducing haemorrhages

30 November 2022

A protein that can induce the destruction of amyloid-beta plaques, which increasingly build up in the brain as Alzheimer’s disease advances, without dangerous side effects has been demonstrated in mice.

Antibodies that incite the immune system to attack amyloid-beta are promising for reducing the build-up of the destructive plaques. But so far they haven’t had much effect on cognition, and a significant proportion of patients have experienced serious side effects such as haemorrhages.

Now, a team of researchers, all from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea, has developed a protein that clears amyloid-beta in mice models of Alzheimer’s disease by a completely different mechanism, and so does not trigger such side effects.

The team combined a fragment of an antibody that targets amyloid-beta and a molecule that sends ‘eat me’ signals to the immune system.

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References

1. Nature Medicine 28, 1802–1812 (2022). doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01926-9