Hormone shows promise in reversing Alzheimer’s disease and stroke

Saint Louis University researchers have identified a novel way of getting a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and stroke into the brain where it can do its work.

“We found a unique approach for delivering drugs to the brain,” says William A. Banks, M.D., professor of geriatrics and pharmacological and physiological science at Saint Louis University. “We’re turning off the guardian that’s keeping the drugs out of the brain.”

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Anti-nogo - new hope for stroke patients?

Loyola researchers hope to reverse stroke damage by jumpstarting growth of nerve fibers
MAYWOOD, Ill. — If a stroke patient doesn’t get treatment within approximately the first three hours of symptoms, there’s not much doctors can do to limit damage to the brain.

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Leukemia drug could save lives of stroke patients

Studies in mice reveal why tPA may cause brain damage

The drug tPA is the most effective treatment currently available for stroke patients, but its safety is limited to use within the first three hours following the onset of symptoms. After that, tPA may cause dangerous bleeding in the brain. However, in a study published today in Nature Medicine, investigators from the Stockholm Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the University of Michigan Medical School show that these problems might be overcome if tPA is combined with the leukemia drug, imatinib (Gleevec). The results demonstrate that imatinib greatly reduces the risk of tPA-associated bleeding in mice, even when tPA was given as late as five hours after the stroke had begun. The LICR team, in collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, is now planning a clinical trial with imatinib in stroke patients.

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Metabolic genes tied to inflammatory predictor of heart disease and stroke risk

Two new studies provide evidence that differences in peoples blood levels of C reactive protein (CRP) stem in part from natural variation in known metabolic genes. The researchers report their findings in the May American Journal of Human Genetics, a publication of Cell Press.

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Stopping unwanted cell death: Implications for drug discovery

Kinase identified as cellular target for inhibiting necrosis in disease

Research published in Nature Chemical Biology reveals that three specific inhibitors of a cell death pathway, termed necroptosis, all target and inhibit RIP1 kinase, a protein that can direct cells into necrosis. Induced by trauma such as a heart attack or stroke, this form of necrotic death can result in tissue damage contributing to death or long-term disability. The findings present a novel avenue for drug development.

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Scientists ask whether microscaffolding can help stem cells rebuild brain after stroke damage

Inserting tiny scaffolding into the brain could dramatically reduce damage caused by strokes the UK National Stem Cell Network Annual Science Meeting will hear today (10 April). Speaking at the conference in Edinburgh, Dr Mike Modo from the Institute of Psychiatry will explain how combining scaffold microparticles with neural stem cells (NSCs) could regenerate lost brain tissue.

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Scientists find a key culprit in stroke brain cell damage

Researchers have identified a key player in the killing of brain cells after a stroke or a seizure. The protein asparagine endopeptidase (AEP) unleashes enzymes that break down brain cells’ DNA, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

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Early blood pressure reduction to improve stroke outcomes

Early and intensive lowering of high blood pressure has shown promising effects in stroke patients, according to results of a new stroke study by The George Institute for International Health.

Initial results of the first large-scale investigation into managing raised blood pressure after intracerebral haemorrhage (stroke) demonstrates that rapid blood pressure lowering is well tolerated and appears to reduce the amount of bleeding in the brain, indicating that such treatment could reduce the risk of death and disability in stroke patients.

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Stroke victims may benefit from stem cell transplants

According to two studies published in the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No.10), stroke victims may benefit from human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) or bone marrow stromal cell (BMSCs) transplantation. In both studies, the migration of chemically tagged transplanted stem cells were tracked to determine the degree to which the transplanted cells reached damaged areas of the brain and became therapeutically active.

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Team Discovers How Brain’s Own tPA Helps Regulate Blood Flow to Neurons

Powerful Enzyme Best Known as Emergency Stroke Drug Could Also Play Key Role in Alzheimer’s Disease

The human brain contains its own store of a powerful enzyme (and stroke drug) called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which appears to be a key regulator of blood flow to brain cells, a team at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City reports.

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