A little-known protein may be fueling Alzheimer’s — and scientists found a way to block it

Ursula Quitterer calls it "Compound 10," a chemical substance developed by her research team that could potentially slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Quitterer, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at ETH Zurich, has so far tested the experimental treatment in mice. The results were encouraging. The nerve cell death typically associated with dementia slowed significantly, and the treated animals lived longer.

The work behind the compound began nearly 20 years ago, when Quitterer received brain tissue samples from patients treated by a doctor and colleague at Ain Shams University Hospital in Cairo. The tissue had been removed during tumor surgery from people with dementia as well as non-dementia patients.

Quitterer used those samples to investigate an enzyme called GRK2, which has long been a major focus of her research.