A team of neuroscientists and chemists from the U.S. and China today publish research suggesting that a class of currently used anti-cancer drugs as well as several previously untested synthetic compounds show effectiveness in reversing memory loss in two animal models of Alzheimer’s’ disease. CSHL Professor Yi Zhong, Ph.D., who led the research conducted in fruit flies and mice, says he and his colleagues were surprised with their results, which, he stressed, used two independent experimental approaches “the results of which clearly converged.” Specifically, the research converged on what Zhong’s team suggests is a “preferred target” for treating memory loss associated with the amyloid-beta (Aß) plaques seen in advanced Alzheimer’s patients. That target is the epidermal growth factor receptor, often called by its acronym, EGFR.
