A truncated peptide from p35, a Cdk5 activator, prevents Alzheimer's disease phenotypes in model mice.

ABSTRACT: Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the leading neurodegenerative disorders of older adults, which causes major socioeconomic burdens globally, lacks effective therapeutics without significant side effects. Besides the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), it has been reported that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), a critical neuronal kinase, is hyperactivated in AD brains and is, in part, responsible for the above pathology. Here we show that a modified truncated 24-aa peptide (TFP5), derived from the Cdk5 activator p35, penetrates the blood-brain barrier after intraperitoneal injections, inhibits abnormal Cdk5 hyperactivity, and significantly rescues AD pathology (up to 70-80%) in 5XFAD AD model mice. The mutant mice, injected with TFP5 exhibit behavioral

SUBMITTER: Shukla V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3528323 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature