We are not the only ones looking into Sirtuins and how to reduce cellular stress response in the Brain:

Cellular stress response, sirtuins and UCP proteins in Alzheimer disease: role of vitagenes

Carolin Cornelius¹, Angela Trovato Salinaro¹, Maria Scuto¹, Vincenzo Fronte¹, Maria Teresa Cambria¹, Manuela Pennisi², Rita Bella², Pietro Milone³, Antonio Graziano³, Rosalia Crupi⁴, Salvatore Cuzzocrea⁴, Giovanni Pennisi² and Vittorio Calabrese^1*

• * Corresponding author: Vittorio Calabrese calabres@unict.it

Author Affiliations

For all author emails, please log on.

Immunity & Ageing 2013, 10:41  doi:10.1186/1742-4933-10-41
Published: 17 October 2013

Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting up to one third of individuals reaching the age of 80. Different integrated responses exist in the brain to detect oxidative stress which is controlled by several genes termed Vitagenes. Vitagenes encode for cytoprotective heat shock proteins (Hsp), as well as thioredoxin, sirtuins and uncouple proteins (UCPs). In the present study we evaluate stress response mechanisms in plasma and lymphocytes of AD patients, as compared to controls, in order to provide evidence of an imbalance of oxidant/antioxidant mechanisms and oxidative damage in AD patients and the possible protective role of vitagenes.

We found that the levels of Sirt-1 and Sirt-2 in AD lymphocytes were significantly higher than in control subjects. Interestingly, analysis of plasma showed in AD patients increased expression of Trx, a finding associated with reduced expression of UCP1, as compared to control group.

This finding can open up new neuroprotective strategies, as molecules inducing this defense mechanisms can represent a therapeutic target to minimize the deleterious consequences associated to oxidative stress, such as in brain aging and neurodegenerative disorders.