Amiloidosis treatment research to receive support from Russian Science Foundation and the Republic of Tatarstan
The project, “Study of molecular mechanisms of inhibition of fibrillation formation of proteins in the presence of derivatives of damage acids”, is to be funded.
During the implementation of the project, which is led by Assistant Lecturer of the Department of Physical Chemistry Dilyara Khaybrakhmanova, scientists of the Institute of Chemistry will study how potential drugs interact with amyloid fibrils which are formed in the human body and can be the cause of various incurable diseases.
Amyloid fibrils are “threads” of different lengths which are composed of stitched protein molecules. Accumulation of such formations in the human body can be the cause of various incurable diseases. For example, the accumulation of amyloids in the brain is one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease which accounts for 70 percent of cases of dementia. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, the global economic cost of dementia was $1.3 trillion.
The research will be handled by the Laboratory of Molecular Basics of Amyloid Formation and Anti-Amyloid Activity, a new entity established under Priority 2030; the lab head is Professor Igor Sedov.
Dr Sedov explains, “Amyloidoses can be caused by different proteins and affect the functions of different organs. So far, none of the drugs designed to suppress fibril formation have passed all phases of clinical trials, so now the efforts of the global scientific community are aimed at finding effective drugs which will help to destroy already formed fibrils or slow their growth. In 2019, the effectiveness of natural saccharide, sodium oligomanronate, a uronic acid derivative, was proven to have successfully completed two phases of clinical trials as a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. After ten years of study, the mechanism of its action remains unclear.”
“For the first time the mechanism of interaction of fibril of different proteins (albumin, lysozyma, and alpha-sinuclein) with substances such as alginate, lactabionic acid, and glucoranate, will be studied. The obtained data will allow to determine how the studied substances influence the growth rate and the amount of fibril formed, as well as to draw a conclusion about the mechanism of observed phenomena,” adds Ms Khaybrakhmanova.