Sandbox Reserved 1619: Difference between revisions

Gamma secretase has been determined to be highly involved with diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this, beta-amyloid build up leads to amyloid plaques in brain. These plaques then go on to cause severe neural dysfunction over time. Inhibition of γ-secretase could be potential AD treatment, but as stated earlier, this is a hard model to accomplish as gamma secretase is relevant with several different substrates. Complete inhibition would cause other severe problems beyond that of AD, making treatment more difficult than what meets the eye. However, what is known is that there are many different regions that give rise to γ-secretase malfunction when they are mutated. Over 200 of these mutations have been linked to causing AD. In particular, these mutations target so called hot spots on the enzyme and heavily impact the interface between PS1 and APP, affecting the integrity of catalysis and ultimately creating the plaques that impair neural function.