Scientists at the University of Kansas (KU) have engineered an antigen using a protein from corn to combat the toxic buildup of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s). This antigen could feasibly be used in potential immunisation approaches for Alzheimer’s – the antigen has been shown to induce an immune response and improve memory in mice with the disease.

A team led by Jackob Moskovitz, Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the KU School of Pharmacy, used a recombinant methionine (Met)-rich protein derived from corn to produce an antigen rich in methionine sulfoxide (MetO). The corn-based antigen, when injected to the body, goads the immune system into producing antibodies against MetO-containing proteins, including the MetO component of beta-amyloid, a protein toxic to brain cells that is associated with Alzheimer’s.

In research published in 2011, Moskovitz showed that immunising mice with the antigen could protect brain cells from amyloid-related toxicity and reduce the buildup of plaques. According to Moskovitz, there was also a roughly 50% improvement in the memory of immunised mice.

In addition, the study showed the antigen-injected mice exhibited better long memory capabilities, reduced beta-amyloid levels in both blood-plasma and the brain, as well as “reduced beta-amyloid burden and MetO accumulations in key brain regions.”

Moskovitz suggests such an immunisation be given to people as the risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases later in life, “around the time people are told to go get a colonoscopy for the first time in their 50s or 60s,” with further booster shots to maintain effectiveness.

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A type of buckwheat liquor used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was found to influence an important activity in cells: tartary buckwheat extract induces autophagy, a process that cells use to clean up proteins that are damaged or no longer needed. Researchers from Japan’s Osaka University, who made the discovery, also said that a specific component contained within the extract, quercetin, induces a second process that removes harmful protein aggregates. Protein aggregates are linked to chronic diseases including Alzheimer’s.

The researchers had treated epithelial (skin) cells and liver cells with tartary buckwheat extract in several experiments, and focused on how different fluorescent markers of autophagy responded to the extract.

“The results clearly showed that tartary buckwheat induces autophagy in epithelial cells,” said Professor Takeshi Noda, Osaka University. “We found that treating cells with the extract stimulated the formation of autophagasomes, specialised cellular structures that carry out autophagy, and altered the location of proteins involved in regulating autophagy.”

A specific component of tartary buckwheat extract, known as quercetin, was later found to have the same effects as the extract. What’s more, both tartary buckwheat extract and quercetin prompted liver cells to round up and remove protein aggregates through a process known as aggrephagy.

The findings suggest that tartary buckwheat extract and quercetin could be a useful treatment for patients with diseases associated with autophagy and aggrephagy.

Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) produce other blood and immune cells, and ramp up production when an infection strikes – scientists from the UK have now identified how the HSCs protect themselves during the arduous task. A protein, YTHDF2 for short, regulates genes that control inflammatory processes that follow infection, protecting the stem cells from damage and premature aging.

Upon inducing an infection, scientists from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and Queen Mary University, England noticed that young mice suffered chronic inflammation of their HSCs, which altered the production of different blood cell types. These mice were engineered to be deficient in YTHDF2; the damage suffered caused their blood to resemble that of much older mice.

Like humans, mouse HSCs naturally lose their potency and ability to manufacture new blood cells during the aging process, leaving older adults much more vulnerable to infection. Blood transfusions from young animals to older ones could therefore improve the health of the recipient, and even slow the progression of certain inflammatory diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

Read: Stem-cell hydrogel injection studied for heart attack patients

“Our study uncovers a key significance of YTHDF2 in protecting blood stem cells [and] regulating inflammatory pathways in blood and also other tissue stem cells,” said Professor Dónal O’Carroll, University of Edinburgh’s School of Biological Sciences. Future work could investigate whether manipulating levels of YTHDF2 may be a potential anti-aging treatment.

Dietician Ashley Charlebois said health and muscle-conscious teenagers might unknowingly be wasting money on expensive protein supplements without knowing what they’re getting out of them.

“What is kind of contra-indicative to what most people think is [that] what is important is to actually get carbohydrates after a workout rather than protein,” she said.

According to Charlebois, there could be many potentially dangerous additives hiding in protein shakes despite the fact that Health Canada regulated health supplements. Not all manufacturers list all their ingredients, he said. Creatine is one of those substances teenagers and their parents should watch out for, as it can cause dehydration. Furthermore, there are some protein supplements have the power to go straight to the hips.

Teenagers can only synthesize 15 grams of protein at a time, but many who are trying to gain muscle take more than that. The excess protein will turn straight into energy — which, if it isn’t used up right away, will be stored in the body as fat.

If researched and taken properly, teenagers can benefit from health supplements, said Greg Semkuley, Enerex’s sales manager. He said that teens should research what kind of supplement they’re buying, and only use what is safe.

“These things aren’t a replacement for food and good nutrition on a daily basis. They’re not a substitute for a good nutritious meal, but when you are having athletes that are performing to a much higher degree, and the demands on their body are much higher, then — yeah — there are supplements that can be looked at.

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