Research Team of Prof. Dong-Kyu Cho (Dept. of Pharmacy) Suggests a New Direction to Overcome Alzheimer’s Disease

- Identify the mechanism for controlling necroptosis of Alzheimer’s disease

- Identify the effectiveness of Alzheimer’s disease prevention/treatment by controlling O-GlcNAcylation

[Image 1] Prof. Dong-Gyu Jo, Ph.D Jinsu Park

A research team of Prof. Dong-Kyu Cho (Dept. of Pharmacy) released a new study that can be applied to the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease(AD). The team identified new mechanisms of inhibiting necroptosis, amyloid accumulation, neuroinflammation, and cognitive impairment from Alzheimer’s disease through a protein variant called O-GlcNAcylation.

In the brain of Alzheimer’s disease patients, O-GlcNAcylation is suppressed compared to normal people. In response, the researchers first proved that recovering the reduced O-GlcNAcylation inhibits necroptosis and suppresses various dementia symptoms, noting that the degree of O-GlcNAcylation and the progress of Alzheimer’s symptoms are related.

[Image 2] A mechanism for controlling necroptosis due to the recovery of O-GlcNAcylation in Alzheimer’s disease

Prof. Jo said “O-GlcNAcylation is believed to be closely related to the progression of various degenerative brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. This study, which reveals the role of O-GlcNAcylation inhibiting necroptosis, could provide new direction to overcome Alzheimer’s diseases and degenerative brain diseases.”

[Image 3] Multiple models of AD are recovered by O-GlcNAcylation

The study was published in Science Advances, a world-renowned journal. The research was conducted through a joint study with the Korea Brain Research Institute (Director Pan-Gil Seo) and supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Ki-Young Choi), the National Research Foundation of Korea (Member of Board Jung-Hye Noh), and the MRC.

※ Title : O-GlcNAcylation ameliorates the pathological manifestations of Alzheimer's disease by inhibiting necroptosis
※ Authors : Jinsu Park, Hee-Jin Ha, Eun Seon Chung, Seung Hyun Baek, Yoonsuk Cho, Hark Kyun Kim, Jihoon Han, Jae Hoon Sul, Jeongmi Lee, Eunae Kim, Junsik Kim, Yong Ryoul Yang, Mikyoung Park, Sung Hyun Kim, Thiruma V. Arumugam, Hyemin Jang, Sang Won Seo, Pann-Ghill Suh and Dong-Gyu Jo