Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Research Article

Targeting Alzheimer's Disease Neuro-Metabolic Dysfunction with a Small Molecule Nuclear Receptor Agonist (T3D-959) Reverses Dise ase Pathologies

Ming Tong^1,2,4, Cesar Dominguez⁸, John Didsbury⁹ and Suzanne M de la Monte^1-7*

¹Liver Research Center, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

²Divisions of Gastroenterology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

³Department of Neuropathology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

⁴Department of Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

⁵Department of Pathology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

⁶Department of Neurology, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

⁷Department of Neurosurgery, Rhode Island Hospital and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI,

⁸Williams College, Williams, MA, USA

⁹T3D Pharmaceuticals, Raleigh Durham, NC, USA5Australian School of Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

*Corresponding Author:

Suzanne M de la Monte
Pierre Galletti Research Building, Rhode Island Hospital
55 Claverick Street, Room 419, Providence, RI, USA
Tel: 401-444-7364
Fax: 401-444-2939
E-mail: Suzanne_DeLaMonte_MD@Brown.edu

Received date: May 02, 2016; Accepted date: May 27, 2016; Published date: June 03, 2016

Citation: Tong M, Dominguez C, Didsbury J, de la Monte SM (2016) Targeting Alzheimer’s Disease Neuro-Metabolic Dysfunction with a Small Molecule Nuclear Receptor Agonist (T3D-959) Reverses Disease Pathologies. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 6:238. doi: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000238

Copyright: © 2016 Tong M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could be regarded as a brain form of diabetes since insulin resistance and deficiency develop early and progress with severity of neurodegeneration. Preserving insulin’s actions in the brain restores function and reduces neurodegeneration. T3D-959 is a dual nuclear receptor agonist currently in a Phase 2a trial in mild-to-moderate AD patients (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02560753). Herein, we show that T3D-959 improves motor function and reverses neurodegeneration in a sporadic model of AD.

Methods: Long Evans rats were administered intracerebral (i.c.) streptozotocin (STZ) or normal saline (control) and dosed orally with T3D-959 (1.0 mg/kg/day) or saline for 21 or 28 days. Rotarod tests evaluated motor function. Histopathology with image analysis was used to assess neurodegeneration.

Results: T3D-959 significantly improved motor performance, and preserved both cortical and normalized white matter structure in i.c STZ-treated rats. T3D-959 treatments were effective when dosed therapeutically, whether initiated 1 day or 7 days after i.c. STZ.

Conclusion: T3D-959’s targeting neuro-metabolic dysfunctions via agonism of PPAR delta and PPAR gamma nuclear receptors provides potential disease modification in AD.

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