A therapy for dementia (dementia) has been developed by the employees of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBC) of RAS. The drug, called Cogniran, has almost completed animal testing and is ready for clinical trials in humans, Izvestia writes.
Its mechanism of action differs from that of other drugs for this indication. It is based on a small peptide molecule, which is a component of human protein Lynx1. In the brain, it activates the nerve endings that are responsible for the perception of nicotine. As a result, the person’s mental abilities improve.
The publication notes that the malfunction of the alpha-7 nicotine receptors (those nerve endings) is a common cause of dementia, especially in old age. And the excessive accumulation of amyloids (misfolded proteins) in the neurons of the brain caused by Alzheimer’s disease disrupts the work of these receptors. As a result, the transmission of nerve impulses is disrupted and the brain functions worse, which results in deterioration of memory, self-service skills, and mental abilities.
“If you activate these receptors so that they open more often and conduct more ions, they, in turn, will increase the efficiency of neural transmission and memory formation processes in the cortex and other parts of the brain, and that will result in better mental function,” says Zakhar Shenkarev, head of the Laboratory of bioengineering of anti-cancer drugs and artificial neuromodulators of the IBC of RAS.
Researchers from the IBC of RAS found a protein that can activate nicotine receptors in humans, and cut out its part responsible for this effect. “We cut out a 15-link peptide from Lynx1 protein responsible for interacting with nicotine receptors, put the ends of this chain together to increase its stability, and produced our Cogniran,” the head of the laboratory explained.
Scientists expect that the drug, which was successful in a mouse study, will also perform well in human trials, and believe that all stages of clinical trials will take from five to ten years. The first phase will involve only twenty participants. If everything goes well, the number of participants will be increased, with as many as several hundred participating in the third phase.
Due to the need to make it safer for the human body, the drug will be administered through the nose, which provides a faster effect on the brain. This way it will be possible to avoid its effects on other tissues of the body, apart from the central nervous system. The developers do not hope to reverse the damage caused by dementia completely, but with the help of Cogniran, hopefully, the development of the disease can be significantly slowed down, giving a person years of meaningful life. Another innovative domestic drug for Alzheimer’s disease, MYOREOL, appeared in Russia in 2022. It was developed by NovaMedica.