Dementia research in Cambridge is to benefit from £449,924 of new funding thanks to a series of new grants from Alzheimer’s Research UK.

A Southampton scientist has just been awarded more than £58,000 by Alzheimer’s Research UK to study chemical signals in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.

US scientists have uncovered a protein that may be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and shown that blocking this protein in mice can restore learning and memory.

Alzheimer’s Research UK welcomes today’s announcement that the UK will use its presidency of the G8 to hold the first global dementia summit on 11 December.

UK scientists have found that an immune response in the brain plays a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s, and that a vaccine designed to tackle the disease was able to suppress the response.

New UK-led research presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology estimates that disorders of the brain, including dementia, cost the UK a conservatively estimated £112bn every year.

A team of scientists at Boston University Medical School have performed a genetic study to try to unravel whether there is a genetic basis to why Alzheimer’s progresses faster in some people than others.

A dementia researcher from Aston University has won a funding award from Alzheimer’s Research UK to understand more about the role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. Prof Helen Griffiths will embark on a pioneering one-year study, which has won support from Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood. The research gets underway in April and aims to shed more light on the causes of the disease and highlight potential new areas for treatment.

Alzheimer’s Research UK, which awarded £30,000 for the innovative project, funds research across the UK into preventions, treatments and a cure for all forms of dementia. This study will look in detail at how genes are regulated in the brain and how this might play a role in inflammation linked to Alzheimer’s.

The Aston team believes that small changes in the activity of genes could alter the behaviour of cells in the body and play a role in diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Prof Griffiths, Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Aston University, who is heading up the study, said:
“Huge advances have been made in our understanding of how genes are controlled. Small strips of DNA, previously thought of as ‘genetic junk’, have now been found to fine-tune the activity of genes and been linked to diseases such as cancer and heart disease. These strips of DNA encode microRNA (miRNA) and are revolutionising our approach to studying diseases.”

Prof Griffiths believes that miRNAs may play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s by altering the function of blood vessels in the brain and affecting the brain’s response to inflammation. To study this in more detail she will look at the effect of different miRNAs on artificial blood vessels grown in the lab, looking for those that could be linked to the disease.

She said:
“By understanding more about miRNAs and their role in keeping our brains healthy, we hope to understand more about what can go wrong in Alzheimer’s. We are also interested in whether treatments could influence the action of miRNAs. This knowledge could help in the design of new treatments for Alzheimer’s. We are really pleased that Alzheimer’s Research UK has invested in this area, which has been relatively poorly studied in the past.”

Shabana Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Ladywood and Shadow Minister for Universities & Science, said:
“It is great to see new investment in dementia research here in Birmingham. Our Universities have a strong track record in scientific research, but without investment from charities like Alzheimer’s Research UK, that research would grind to a halt. Dementia has an enormous impact – on society, the economy and on the lives of those living with or caring for someone with the condition. More research into dementia is absolutely vital to help those affected now and in the future.”

Dr Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“Our Pilot Project funding is awarded to scientists with original and exciting ideas, to drive research in innovative new directions. This is a relatively new area for dementia research and we are very interested to see what the team finds and how this will help our understanding of the factors contributing to Alzheimer’s.”

“There are more than 820,000 people living with dementia in the UK – more than 9,000 in Birmingham alone – and the most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. There are currently no treatments available that slow down the disease and still a lot left to understand about what causes it. We are incredibly grateful to our supporters who allow us to fund groundbreaking studies like this one, but sadly research into Alzheimer’s still remains underfunded compared to other common diseases. We need sustained investment in research if we are to find the answers that are so desperately needed.”

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have identified specific changes in the energy hubs of nerve cells, that happen early in Alzheimer’s disease. The findings could help to unravel what happens to nerve cells during the disease and identify new targets for treatments. The research is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 22 April.