Mycose AdminiStration for HealIng Alzheimer NEuropathy (MASHIANE)
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-08-20
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys
memory and thinking skills, and, eventually, the ability to function independently. Despite
the significant effort to understand the basic biology of the disease and pharmaceutical
advances to develop drugs, there is no effective therapy available to treat AD or slow the
disease progression.
β-amyloid accumulation outside brain cells and abnormal accumulations of tau protein inside
neurons are taught to be two main changes in the brain that lead to AD. Progressive
accumulation of β-amyloid interferes with the neuron-to-neuron communication at synapses,
contributing to neural cell death. Also, tau tangles block the transport of nutrients and
other essential molecules into the neurons. Many molecules have been shown to inhibit amyloid
aggregation. The anti-amyloidogenic activity of trehalose was confirmed in both in vitro and
in vivo studies and its inhibitory effects on β-amyloid formation in AD have also been
demonstrated. Trehalose is a non-toxic disaccharide and no dose-dependent adverse effects
were seen in any of the safety studies. It can act as a chemical chaperone and stabilizes the
natively folded structure of protein and also trehalose has been identified as an autophagy
inducer and promotes the clearance of aggregated proteins. Therefore, trehalose could be a
valuable candidate for the treatment and prevention of amyloid-related disease. Based on the
proposed hypothesis, this study aim to investigate the potential efficacy of trehalose
administration in patients with AD.