Newton Resident Awarded Grant for Alzheimer's Research

NEWTON, MA – A Newton resident and investigator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has been awarded a three-year grant to study a protein that contributes to cell death and brain damage in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Kun Ping Lu, chief of the Division of Translational Therapeutics in the Department of Medicine, and his colleagues identified the tau protein, which can become misshapen in the early stages of the disease and lead to brain damage.

The $608,547 grant – jointly funded by the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Research UK and the Weston Brain Institute in Canada – to study the toxic species of tau protein and search for methods of neutralizing the damage it does to the brain.

"This grant will allow us to purify the toxic tau protein from brains of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s
disease or traumatic brain injury, and brain cells under stress in vitro," Lu said in a statement. "To elucidate how this protein causes and spreads neuronal death would not only offer new insight into early disease mechanism, but also might lead to new diagnosis and treatment for these major diseases."

Archetypal symptoms of Alzheimer's, including memory loss and cognitive decline, are thought to be the result of sticky clumps of tau proteins forming in the brain. Studies of the brains of boxers, football players and veterans involved in explosions have revealed tau protein tangles as well. However, researchers aren't sure whether the tau clusters are a cause or an effect of deterioration.

In their previous work, Lu, his longtime collaborator, Dr. Xiao Zhen Zhou, and their colleagues discovered that the protein exists in two distinct shapes – one that's a key component of normal brain function and one that leads to memory loss in Alzheimer's patients. The team also found that the disease-causing form is produced in the immediate aftermath of traumatic brain injury and can lead to Alzheimer's and long-term brain damage.

The research award will allow the team to use an antibody they developed in an attempt to neutralize the toxic version of the tau protein and halt the damage it does to brain tissue.

Lu is one of three researchers at the hospital who have been awarded grants from the Alzheimer's Association. Todd Williams and Onder Albayram also received funding.

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