Progranulin as a Potential Therapeutic Target for Alzheimer's Disease

This project aims to determine how progranulin enhances memory and to test if pharmacologically increasing progranulin levels can protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

Previous studies suggest that progranulin confers a protective effect on Alzheimer’s disease in mouse models and in humans, but several important gaps in knowledge exist. This project aims to determine how progranulin exerts its effects in the central nervous system to enhance memory and to test if pharmacologically increasing progranulin levels can protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

One innovative aspect of this project is that we will test if pharmacologically increasing levels of an endogenous protein can delay or slow progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, we will investigate a novel link between progranulin and KCNN2, which could underlie progranulin’s memory enhancing effects.

Completion of these studies will provide fundamental knowledge about how progranulin functions in the central nervous system to enhance memory. Additionally, the preclinical studies will provide important insights about whether pharmacologically increasing progranulin levels may be an effective therapeutic approach for Alzheimer’s disease.