Alzheimer’s researchers creating ‘designer tracker’ to quantify elusive brain protein, provide earlier diagnosis

April 26, 2013

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Dual channel fluoresecence microscopy of Alzheimer’s disease brain reveals presence of extracellular Abeta- (red) and intracellular tau- (green) bearing lesions (credit: Kristen E Funk, PhD)

By using computer-aided drug discovery, an Ohio State Universitymolecular biochemist and molecular imaging chemist are collaborating to create an imaging chemical that attaches predominantly to tau-bearing lesions in living brain.

Their hope is that the “designer” tracer will open the door for earlier diagnosis — and better treatments for Alzheimer’s, frontal temporal dementia and traumatic brain injuries like those suffered by professional athletes, all conditions in which tangled tau filaments accumulate in brain tissue.

“We’re creating agents that are specifically engineered to bind the surface of aggregated tau proteins so that we can see where and how much tau is collecting in the brain,” said Jeff Kuret, professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “We think the “tau signature” can be used to improve diagnosis and staging of disease.”/.../