Insights and recommendations for working collaboratively and improving care in Alzheimer's disease: Learnings from the Finding Alzheimer's Solutions Together (F.A.S.T.) Council

BACKGROUND

Collaborations between patient organisations (POs) and the pharmaceutical industry can help identify and address the unmet needs of people living with a disease. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the scale and complexity of the current unmet needs call for a broad and cross-sectoral collaboration, including people living with Alzheimer's (PLWA), their care partners and the wider research community.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to describe learnings from the Finding Alzheimer's Solutions Together (F.A.S.T.) Council, a collaboration between POs and Roche, convened to better understand the unmet needs of PLWA and their care partners.

RESULTS

1. Learnings from the collaboration, including clarifying objectives and members' expectations upfront, and establishing a set of guiding values and engagement principles. 2. Insights and recommendations for improving care in AD, including a wide range of unmet needs and potential solutions, systematically captured throughout the PLWA journey. These have resulted in several published reports and other outcomes, including (1) 'Portraits of care', highlighting the role of care partners, and the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on care; (2) Clinical trial guidebook, recommending how PLWA and care partner experience can be incorporated into trial design; (3) 'Commitments Catalogue', highlighting progress by governmental organisations in achieving their commitments; and (4) a report to guide policy on improving diversity, equity and inclusion in clinical trials.

CONCLUSIONS

Close collaboration between POs and the pharmaceutical industry in AD can enable effective research, in which PLWA and care partners are engaged as 'experts through experience' to help identify key unmet needs and co-create solutions with the wider AD research community. This paper and the work undertaken by the F.A.S.T. Council may act as a blueprint for meaningful collaboration between POs and the pharmaceutical industry.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

The paper reports the collaboration between POs, the F.A.S.T. Council and Roche to progress towards a future in which PLWA can live fulfilling lives with their disease managed well.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

Not applicable.

Kynurenic acid, an aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand, is elevated in serum of Zucker fatty rats

Obesity is an increasingly urgent global problem and the molecular mechanisms of obesity are not fully understood. Dysregulation of the tryptophan (Trp) - kynurenine (Kyn) metabolic pathway (TKP) have been suggested as a mechanism of obesity and described in obese humans and in animal models of obesity. However, to the best of our knowledge, TKP metabolism has not been studied in leptin-receptor-deficient Zucker fatty rats (ZFR) (fa/fa), the best-known and most widely used rat model of obesity. We were interested to determine if there are any deviations of TKP in ZFR. Concentrations of major TKP metabolites were evaluated (HPLC- MS method) in serum of ZFR (fa/fa) and age-matched lean rats (FA/-). Concentrations of kynurenic acid (KYNA) were 50% higher in ZFR than in lean rats (p<0.004, Mann-Whitney two-tailed test). Anthranilic acid (AA) concentrations, while elevated by 33%, did not reach statistical significance (p<0.04, one-tailed test). Elevated KYNA serum concentrations might contribute to development of obesity via KYNA-induced activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Present results warrant further studies of KYNA and AA in ZFR and other animal models of obesity.

[Light microscopic demonstration of lectin receptors on the surface of human spermatozoa]

The topography of lectin binding sites on human spermatozoa has been examined by using particular series of peroxydase labeled lectin-konjugates (GS-1, GS-2, WGA, PNA, SBA, DBA, BPA, MPA, UEA-1, LPA, Con-A) which demonstrated typical patterns of lectin-receptor distributions concerning acrosomal and equatorial as well as postacrosomal areas.

Genetic recombination in Streptomyces bikiniensis var. zorbonensis

A genetic recombination system in Streptomyces bikiniensis var. zorbonensis is described. This strain produces a mixture of antibiotics including zorbamycin and zorbonomycin B and C. A genetic map has been constructed from data obtained from an analysis of haploid recombinants which shows linkage relationships of 17 marker loci. Determination of map location has been made for three different loci affecting antibiotic biosynthesis in this strain.