Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Alzheimer's disease is a devastating neurological disease and currently affects more than 700,000 Canadians. The disease typically affects the elderly population and the its incidence has increased to alarming levels due to the rising median age of our population. Currently available clinical treatment is largely symptomatic and there is urgent need for novel treatments that can arrest the disease process and cure neurological deficits. We have identified that the activity of an enzyme called the eurkaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF2K in short) is abnormally elevated in brains of Alzheimer's disease patients. To understand the role of eEF2K in Alzheimer's disease, we have carried out detailed analysis in two transgenic mouse models which harbor gene mutations associated with the familial form of Alzheimer's disease. We have observed that the pattern of eEF2K activity in brain of these mice is strikingly similar to as seen in Alzheimer patients. Furthermore, we have gathered convincing evidence that inhibition of eEF2K prevents the toxic effects of Alzheimer disease associated amyloid proteins on neurons, and reduces oxidative stress- a hallmark feature of Alzheimer pathology. Many research groups have demonstrated that eEF2K plays an important role in learning and memory related paradigms, and hence it is not surprising that it's activity is affected in Alzheimer disease. These research findings point to a crucial role of eEF2K in Alzheimer disease and propose eEF2K inhibition as a novel target of therapies.