What is the nature of Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on the brain from a neurological perspective?
Arthur Bezie, Senior Brand Manager Braintale: Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by the progressive degeneration of neurons, particularly in the limbic cortex, hippocampus, and entorhinal cortex, leading to impacts on memory. Although the exact mechanisms remain poorly understood, two molecules play a central role: beta-amyloid peptide, which accumulates in toxic plaques between neurons, and Tau protein, responsible for neurofibrillary degeneration inside neurons. The disease gradually spreads to other brain regions, affecting various functions, including cognitive and behavioral ones.
Vincent Perlbarg, cofunder and Scientific Director Braintale: The white matter, crucial for neuronal connectivity, is closely linked to the disease as it is directly affected. Moreover, today, several scientific voices are questioning these complex connections because white matter also seems to play a significant role in disease progression, challenging therapeutic approaches focused solely on Tau and amyloid plaques. The white matter appears to be affected by the disease much earlier than previously thought, turning it into new potential therapeutic targets.
How long have you been working on Alzheimer’s disease at Braintale, and what motivated you to embark on this journey?
Vincent Perlbarg: Our team has been involved in Alzheimer’s fight for the past two years, corresponding to the increasing scientific awareness of white matter importance. This focus reflects both the evolution of scientific knowledge and Braintale’s preexisting solid expertise in white matter’s understanding .
Arthur Bezie: Our interest in Alzheimer’s also intensified through the analysis of scientific literature: we identified more than 800 scientific papers on the study of Alzheimer’s disease using diffusion MRI in the past 20 years! The trend has drastically accelerated in recent years with more than 60 papers published annually. This is huge! Since 2022, we gathered promising exploratory results from white matter measurements from available public databases. The urgency and relevance of our work given the crucial need for patients encourage us to continue even harder
What are Braintale’s contributions to the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, and how do you envision the future?
Vincent Perlbarg: So far, we have contributed to understanding Alzheimer’s disease mainly through dialogue with academic players and industrial actors, and analysis of existing data. This allowed us to confirm our biomarkers’ relevance in different contexts of use, such as early detection of the disease and monitoring of its progression. These are crucial for assessing treatment effectiveness, notably during drug development. We are now ready to partner with the industry to accelerate and secure clinical development and with physicians to optimize patient care. Our focus will be on identifying reliable biomarkers to enable efficient decision-making. Given the high failure rates in developing drugs for Alzheimer’s, the challenge is significant and we believe our solution will be instrumental in this journey.