USC scientists target brain inflammation to prevent Alzheimer's disease

An interdisciplinary team at the USC Center for Personalized Brain Health (CPBH) is targeting a family of enzymes that can increase the risk of inflammation in the brains of people with the APOE4 gene variation-the most significant genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's-as a way to prevent the disease.

By activating or inhibiting the enzymes, the scientists, led by CPBH director Hussein Yassine, MD, have succeeded in identifying a promising pathway to turn off brain inflammation before it does its damage.

Now joining the fight is the Norman and Mary Pattiz Foundation, with a $3 million gift to the Keck School of Medicine of USC that will support promising research, including novel drug discovery and other efforts aimed at early detection and prevention of Alzheimer's.

The newly created Norman and Mary Pattiz Alzheimer's Research Fund will provide pilot funding and accelerate priority projects of the USC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). In addition to drug targeting, which includes imaging modality development, and the use of artificial intelligence to pinpoint small molecules involved in brain inflammation, the fund will also support efforts to modernize the center's brain pathology library and look at brain inflammation markers in patients with Alzheimer's.