New synthetic peptide may help treat Alzheimer’s

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed synthetic peptides that target and inhibit build up of small, toxic proteins which trigger Alzheimer’s disease. The research may pave the way for treating the neurodegenerative disorder at an early stage.
Alzheimer’s is a disease of aggregation. Neurons in the human brain make a protein called amyloid beta. Such proteins on their own, called monomers of amyloid beta, perform important tasks for neurons.However, in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, amyloid beta monomers have abandoned their jobs and joined together.
Researchers at the University of Washington in the US have developed synthetic peptides — which are designed to fold into a structure known as an alpha sheet — can block amyloid beta aggregation at the early and most toxic stage when oligomers form.