Se sabe que el hipotálamo desempeña un papel importante en el envejecimiento, pero no está claro si los péptidos secretados por el hipotálamo podrían ser útiles contra el Alzheimer y otras enfermedades relacionadas con el envejecimiento.

In a paper published online on October 31 in Comunicaciones de la naturaleza, Dongsheng Cai, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues addressed this question by looking at methylation of DNA—an epigenetic event that can regulate genes and is associated with aging. After comparing DNA methylation of the hypothalamus versus two other relevant brain regions in young mice, they found that methylation occurred at much higher levels in the hypothalamus. However, this “advantage” in DNA methylation in the hypothalamus was diminished or lost by the time mice reached middle age. Using the epigenetic information obtained from the young mice, the authors found that genes encoding the hypothalamic peptides oxytocin and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) were highly affected by methylation—and that levels of both peptides decline not only with aging but also in an Alzheimer’s disease-like mouse model. They therefore conducted a therapeutic study in which they nasally administered oxytocin and GnRH peptides to Alzheimer’s disease-like model mice. The peptide combination effectively treated Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology and neurodegeneration in the animals, while the effects of individual peptides were only modest. The findings suggest that the hypothalamus is important for understanding the role that DNA methylation plays in aging, and they reveal a potential new strategy for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

El Dr. Cai es profesor de farmacología molecular y director del Instituto de Neuroinmunología e Inflamación de Einstein. Es miembro del Instituto de Investigación del Envejecimiento de Einstein, del Centro de Investigación de la Diabetes Einstein-Monte Sinaí y del Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, designado por el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer.

El Albert Einstein College of Medicine posee propiedad intelectual relacionada con esta investigación y busca socios licenciatarios capaces de desarrollar y comercializar esta tecnología. Los interesados ​​pueden contactar con la Oficina de Biotecnología y Desarrollo Comercial en biotech@einsteinmed.edu .