SAP potential new drug target for Alzheimer's

A team of UK scientists has identified a protein known as serum amyloid P component as a possible therapeutic target in Alzheimer's disease.  Together with Swiss drug major Roche, researchers from London's  University College London developed a small-molecule drug, CPHPC, which  specifically targets SAP and removes it from the blood.

In new data reported in the Proceedings of the US National Academy of  Science, the UCL team showed that the drug also removes SAP from the  brains of patients with the neurodegenerative disorder which is the  biggest cause of age-related dementia. In this first study of the agent  in patients with Alzheimer's, CPHPC was given to five individuals for  three months. There was the usual depletion of SAP from the blood, seen  in all subjects receiving this treatment, but also disappearance of SAP  from the brain.

Lead investigator Mark Pepys said: "coupled with the absence of any side  effects, these new findings strongly support further clinical studies to  see whether longer term treatment with CPHPC protects against the  inexorable men-tal decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease."