Summary

Professor Myra Conway, with support from BRACE-funded PhD student Jake Abbott, and her team will look at a protein called BCATc. Research They believe BCATc could be a new target for drug treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. 

What do we already know?

Our brain contains many pathways that are responsible for keeping it healthy. These pathways are like switches and turn “on/off” in response to signals. PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and the autophagy pathway are examples of these. They are triggered by insulin levels and diet and maintain the health of our brain cells. 

In the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease, these pathways don’t work properly. They have lost their ability to switch “on/off” in response to insulin levels. It’s like if your thermostat broke and no longer turn the heating off at the set temperature. The overactivity of the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and the autophagy pathways is believed to contribute to the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.  

Previously, Professor Myra Conway and her team found a protein called BCATc that plays a role in regulating these pathways. The levels of BCATc are increased in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s disease and research has shown that continued activation of BCATc leads to malfunctions of the autography pathways. This is harmful to brain cells and increases the buildup of protein called amyloid-beta. Amyloid-beta is a known sign of Alzheimer’s disease, it’s one of the things that doctors look for in brain scans when diagnosing dementia.  

What is this project trying to find out?

Professor Myra Conway and her team are looking at how BCATc controls these “on/off” pathways in the brain. They are going to see if changing the activity of BCATc could affect the PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 and the autophagy pathways. Then, they’re going to look at the effect of stopping BCATc altogether on these pathways which are known to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease. 

Overall, they want to know if this protein BCATc could be a target for new treatments of Alzheimer’s and if changing the activity of BCATc could correct the faulty pathways. 

Why is this important?  

By studying this, Professor Myra Conway and her team will hopefully be able to discover an important target for new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The results will also provide a better understanding of how to target these pathways using new medicines or diet.