Identification of new therapeutic targets and generation of new neuroprotective peptides in Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia and cognitive decline in developed societies, and its incidence is increasing exponentially due to the aging population. The Canary Islands may have a higher prevalence of AD than the average, given that their population has a higher incidence of related risk factors, such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Therefore, AD constitutes a serious public health problem with extremely high socio-health costs, both globally and for the islands, and more specifically for Tenerife, which has the highest number of patients. AD has a prolonged asymptomatic initial stage, so by the time it manifests and can be diagnosed, brain deterioration is already very pronounced. It is therefore crucial to try to slow its progression from the early stages of its development. It has recently been described that the tau protein, one of the key players in AD, is released from neurons, spreading pathologically in the brain like a prion, in correlation with the onset of cognitive decline. Therefore, blocking tau release from neurons could halt the spread of the disease in its early stages. The goal of this project is to identify new therapeutic targets and develop potential new drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's and related dementias in their early stages. To this end, we have focused on our previous findings indicating that EB proteins interact with tau and could regulate its release. Our main effort is focused on the search for molecules (e.g., peptides) that, by modulating the tau/EB interaction, reduce tau release and thus slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

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ULL Team

• Carmen Laura Sayas Casanova
• Nestor Vicente Torres Darias