Breakthrough in Alzheimer's Disease Research: Athena Neurosciences and Eli Lilly Develop New Animal Model

Strategic Insights -

The development of a new animal model by Athena Neurosciences, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company has marked a significant breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research. This transgenic mouse model, now available for testing potential therapeutic agents, has been hailed as a major step forward in the fight against the disease. According to August M. Watanabe, M.D., a Lilly vice president, "The development of this model represents a real breakthrough in research on Alzheimer's disease." The model is the first good transgenic animal model of Alzheimer's disease and will provide a rapid and cost-effective means of testing compounds for potential therapeutic agents.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Athena/Lilly mouse model is a significant breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research, providing a rapid and cost-effective means of testing potential therapeutic agents.
  • The model has been genetically engineered to develop many of the brain abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's disease, including the formation and deposition of amyloid-containing plaques and degenerating neurons.
  • The brains of the mice carrying the abnormal APP gene consistently show many of the features of Alzheimer's disease, including a dramatic loss in synaptic density and an inflammatory response in glial cells.
  • The developers of the model, Athena Neurosciences, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company, have agreed in principle to a joint licensing agreement allowing the companies to share the technology developed from this research.
  • The companies hope to use these mice to develop other models of Alzheimer's disease and to study genes that may prevent the disease from occurring.
  • The model was developed through a collaboration between six research teams and involved the genetic implantation of an abnormal amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene into mouse embryonic cells.

Statistics:

  • 34 scientists from Athena Neurosciences, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Exemplar Corporation, The Scripps Research Institute, the University of California, and the National Institute of Mental Health participated in the discovery.
  • The APP gene exists in all humans, and the abnormal form of the APP gene used in the mouse is linked to one type of inherited early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
  • Alzheimer's disease afflicts an estimated four million adults in the United States and is the fourth leading cause of death.
  • It has been estimated that approximately 3 to 15 percent of North Americans develop Alzheimer's disease between the ages of 65 and 74.

Sources:

  • Athena Neurosciences, Inc., press release, February 8, 1995.
  • Eli Lilly and Company, press release, February 8, 1995.
  • Nature, February 9, 1995 issue (forthcoming).