The figure of people who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been growing rapidly since firstly described by Alois Alzheimer in 1906. Recent studies found that one out of ten of the elderly showed AD symptoms of different levels, and the ratio is expected to triple by 2050.  

Recently, scientists from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry claimed to find a new way to treat this kind of disease. “Inhibitions of amyloid β-peptides(Aβ) aggregation and Aβ-haem peroxidase-like activity,” said Xiaogang Qu, “can be the primary targets of therapeutic strategies for AD”.

Actually, to develop inhibitors of Aβ aggregation has been a common target for scientists these years, and most reported organic Aβ inhibitors act non-specifically. Qu and coworkers found that polyoxometalate (POM) with a Wells-Dawson structure can efficiently inhibit Aβ aggregation. “Our work provides insights into the design, synthesis and screening of inorganic metal compounds as multifunctional therapeutic agents against AD.” Qu noted in their recent published paper in Nature Communications. (Nature Communications | 5:3422 | doi:10.1038/ncomms4422)

Qu and his team found that the interaction between POMs and Aβ is robust, and they designed series of transition metal-functionalized POM derivatives with a defined histidine-chelated binding site to show that they have much better inhibition and peroxidase-like activity inhibition effects than the parent POM. They also found that the POMds can cross the blood-brain barrier and be metabolized after 48 hours.