Dr. Sultan Darvesh studies enzyme vital to early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer Disease
For the last 15 years, Dr. Sultan Darvesh has been investigating a single enzyme in the brain. This enzyme, called butyrylcholinesterase, plays a crucial role in Alzheimer Disease. Learning more about it could lead to earlier diagnosis and drugs to slow down or prevent progression of the disease.
“The drugs that are available now treat the symptoms of Alzheimer and not the actual disease,” notes Dr. Darvesh, a neurologist and associate professor at Dalhousie Medical School. “Moreover, it is very difficult to precisely diagnose a particular form of dementia when a person is living. This currently requires post-mortem examination of the brain tissue under a microscope.”
Much of Dr. Darvesh’s work has been devoted to finding better ways to study butyrylcholinesterase. He and his local and international colleagues have mapped out areas of the brain that contain this enzyme – particularly the areas that are affected in dementias such as Alzheimer Disease. They are also using new techniques to refine and improve brain-scanning and -imaging technologies.
“Through our most recent efforts, we have synthesized molecules we hope will allow us to better see and analyze changes in the enzyme,” says Dr. Darvesh. “The next step is to demonstrate that we can use these molecules to study the enzyme in animal models.”
This is all in pursuit of a better understanding of the enzyme – which may also hold clues for other neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Darvesh and his collaborators will use these molecules first to target the enzyme in healthy animals, and then to study the enzyme in animal models of Alzheimer Disease. “This may lead us to some beneficial manipulation of the enzyme to treat the disease,” says Dr. Darvesh.
The first step, however, is early detection. While Dr. Darvesh studies butyrylcholinesterase, he is also searching for ways to diagnose Alzheimer Disease earlier and more accurately: “We would like to detect signs of Alzheimer in the brain before the disease develops significantly and major symptoms occur.”