PMN310 is an experimental treatment being developed by ProMIS Neurosciences to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
How PMN310 works
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with the formation of clumps or aggregates of a protein called amyloid beta. These clumps are toxic to nerve cells and contribute to the progression of the disease. Once aggregates begin to form, they can provide a scaffold for even larger aggregates to form from amyloid beta monomers, or units.
PMN310 is an antibody that binds to the neurotoxic amyloid beta aggregates, preventing additional amyloid beta monomers from adding to them. Therefore, PMN310 may potentially neutralize toxic aggregates and prevent neurodegeneration.
PMN310 research
The neuroprotective effect of PMN310 was investigated in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers injected forms of amyloid beta into the brains of the mice to simulate Alzheimer’s disease. The injected amyloid beta formed aggregates, which caused a dementia-like neurological deficit in the animals.
This was demonstrated using a memory-behavior test called object recognition. Normal mice exposed to an object remember it when they see it a second time and do not pause to study it for as long. Mice with induced amyloid beta damage lost the ability to discriminate between familiar and new objects, and spent similar amounts of time exploring both objects.
After being treated with PMN310, the mice returned to normal behavior, distinguishing between new and known objects in their explorations.
Based on these observations, the researchers concluded that PMN310 may work to prevent the short-term memory loss caused by toxic amyloid beta aggregates.
Other information
ProMIS has two other lead products that could potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease, PMN330 and PMN350, which target different areas on toxic amyloid beta aggregates.
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