NU-9 halts Alzheimer’s disease in animal model before symptoms begin

An experimental drug developed in the lab of Rick Silverman has demonstrated further promise as an early intervention for Alzheimer’s disease.

In this recent study, Northwestern scientists identified a previously unknown highly toxic sub-species of amyloid beta oligomers — toxic clusters of peptides — that appear to drive several of the brain’s earliest changes, including neuronal dysfunction, inflammation and activation of immune cells.

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Manganese is Lyme disease’s double-edge sword

In a new study, Professor Brian Hoffman and collaborators from Uniformed Services University uncovered a surprising vulnerability in Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Although manganese protects the pathogen from the host immune system, the team found that both manganese starvation and overload weaken the bacterium dramatically. Targeting this metal-management pathway could open new strategies for more effective Lyme disease treatments.

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Cancer Drug Made 20,000 Times More Potent in Breakthrough

Northwestern’s Chad Mirkin and his team have re-engineered the common chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) into a spherical nucleic acid (SNA), making it up to 20,000 times more effective at killing cancer cells while reducing toxicity. In animal models of acute myeloid leukemia, the SNA drug targeted cancer cells 12.5 times more efficiently and halted disease progression without detectable side effects.

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