According to scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the health impacts of a complex protein that plays an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and heart conditions can be reduced with three types of drug inhibitors.
In an overview of the protein and inhibitors published today in the journal Cellular reportsCU researchers discussed the best ways to use the interventions.
The CaMKII protein is ubiquitous in cells throughout the body, but is perhaps best known for its prominent role in the brain and heart. It is essential for learning and memory, but if poorly regulated it can cause problems.
“The most powerful driver for driving new discoveries about the functions of CaMKII may lie in the availability of three distinct classes of pharmacological inhibitors,” said the manuscript’s senior author, Ulli Bayer, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at the US School of Medicine. University of Colorado. “These inhibitors now allow a first detailed assessment of CaMKII functions in any given system in a way that is easily accessible to a wide range of scientists without specialized interest in CaMKII research.”
Carolyn Nicole Brown, a graduate student working in Bayer’s lab, is a co-author of the manuscript.
The drugs now allow a first detailed evaluation of CaMKII functions in any system that is accessible to a wide range of scientists.
Previous studies by the Bayer laboratory revealed that inhibition of CaMKII activity protects against some of the effects of amyloid beta (Abeta) plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
The researchers found a group of inhibitors, or drugs, that protected from the effects of Abeta without harmful side effects, making them potentially useful in treating a number of brain diseases.
However, CaMKII is present in almost all other cells. The review offers information about the protein for those who do not study it full-time, providing tools to fill gaps in knowledge about how the protein works.
“We are experts in the study of this complex protein and here we provide a guide for non-specialists to use these new tools,” Bayer said. “We’re trying to make it easier for everyone.”
Brown, the co-author, agreed.
“The most important advances will be filling the gaps that we don’t even know about yet,” he said.