Dr. Eva Feldman, MD, PhD, Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology
Dr. Eva Feldman, of the University of Michigan has dedicated her life’s work to helping her patients, as well as humanity, with some of the most complicated neurological diseases. Her most recent focus is understanding how a diabetic patient can be at a great risk of Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Feldman’s current research is focused on investigating the mechanisms that link diabetes and obesity-related insulin resistance to cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease pathology using both cellular and animal models. Two of the most prominent pathological characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease are the accumulation of β-amyloid in extracellular plaques and the appearance of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles. Their results indicate that tau, one of the major components in the tangles, is abnormally regulated during hyperglycemic conditions in cell culture systems and in diabetic animals. A better understanding of this relationship will aid in the development of much-needed therapies to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease onset and progression in obese or diabetic individuals.
Cellular therapies offer a novel and potentially transformative approach to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Besides directly replacing tissue that is lost in the course of the disease, stem cells can form contacts with host nerve cells and provide support to existing cell populations in the Alzheimer’s brain. In collaboration with Neuralstem, Inc, Dr. Feldman has developed enhanced neural stem cell (NSC) lines that produce multiple neurotrophic factors, providing additional therapeutic benefit compared to a cell treatment alone. Her current efforts are focused on testing these NSC’s in commonly used Alzheimer’s mouse models that possess mutations associated with familial Alzheimer’s, produce human proteins implicated in the disease, and exhibit cognitive decline similar to human patients. Her initial studies show that NSCs survive transplantation and improve memory and learning in two Alzheimer’s mouse models. In parallel, with Bell Biosystems, Inc., they are evaluating novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based tracking methods for real-time visualization of live transplanted NSCs and have shown NSC survival by MRI for up to 10 weeks in the mouse brain.
To learn more about how you can support this very important film, please go to: http://ontodaysfrontlines.com/alzheimers/