Jellyfish Protein to Treat Alzheimer's

A biotech company in Madison, Wisconsin is on the verge of creating a drug from a jellyfish protein that will treat neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. John Moyer, an assistant professor at UW-Milwaukee, has done most of the research with the jellyfish protein called aequorin. Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the loss of calcium binding proteins. Calcium in cells is needed for communication between cells and thus for memory and learning. Too much calcium in cells can lead to their eventual death. As people age, their number of calcium binding proteins decline, so an excess of calcium is in the neurons of the brain leading to neuron death, and so their brain function begins to decline. Aequorin has proved to be a valuable substitute for the calcium binding proteins, helping to control the levels of calcium in neurons. While not new in the areas of medicine, aequorin has never been used as a control of calcium levels in cells before now. Neurodegenerative disease treatments of such diseases as Alzheimer’s are becoming more and more important in recent years as life expectancy continues to rise. It’s good to know that new breakthroughs are occurring all the time.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061027183731.htm