Detoxification depot for Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

The invention is directed to a device that is placed inside an Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient for the purpose of extracting and accumulating neurotoxic beta-amyloid peptides (nt-bAP) from body fluids. AD is the consequence of a process in which nt-bAP aggregates to form fibrils and plaques which can cause nerve damage. Since nt-bAP can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the concentration in the central nervous system and in the periphery are in equilibrium. By sequestering nt-bAP, our device will act as a “sink.” It should draw nt-bAP across the BBB, reducing the concentration of soluble nt-bAP in the brain, thereby halting or slowing plaque deposition in the brain. Since plaques and possibly soluble, aggregated nt-bAP are the cause of nerve damage in AD, this process should be therapeutically effective. The device can be a depot containing a fragment of nt-bAP which intrinsically retains the ability to bind but not to be toxic.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.