LONDON — Researchers from Imperial College London have developed a gene therapy that has successfully prevented the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice. <br /> <br />To treat the disease, scientists created a modified a virus using a lentivirus vector in order to target specific cells. This modified virus also contained a gene called PGC1-alpha, which is said to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta peptide, a protein that causes amyloid plaques. Amyloid plaques are commonly found in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease, and are said to cause brain cell death. <br /> <br />The modified virus was delivered directly into the brains of mice suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s. <br /> <br />Lab results showed the mice with the PGC1-alpha gene developed very few amyloid plaques, while the untreated mice had multiple plagues after four months. <br /> <br />The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
