Bengaluru scientists find possible route to treatment of Alzheimer's disease

The scientists at the research centre have established in a study that plant-based phenols or PPs like tannic acid could lead our way to a safe and cost-effective way of treating Alzheimer's disease.

Bengaluru-based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research scientists have found a potential treatment route for Alzheimer's disease (AD) which can also turn into a highly cost-effective way to tackle it.

The scientists at the research centre have established in a study that plant-based phenols or PPs like tannic acid could lead way to a safe and cost-effective way of treating Alzheimer's disease.

PPs can be found in twigs of trees like Oak and Chestnut and are highly abundant in nature. As per the report, these can modulate the ferroptosis-AD axis, helping in combating the disease.

As per the report, scientists showed PPs as “innovative and multimodal therapeutic agents with dual capabilities to ameliorate ferroptosis and AD.”

The study has been published in the journal, Chemical Sciences.

“This discovery may inspire medicinal chemists to explore new and derivatives of natural compounds to enhance therapeutic efficacy against AD,” Department of Science and Technology said.

“The discovery of a natural polyphenol, TA as a GPX4 activator that ameliorates Aβ induced ferroptosis holds great significance and this study presents new opportunities for the synergistic inhibition of ferroptosis in AD,” it added.

Despite years of research, AD remains a subject that is not yet fully understood making the discovery of a cure for the disease hard. Till date there are no therapeutics to completely cure the disease and the exact cause behind it remains unknown to scientists.