Cell Culture Model for Alzheimers Associated Epitopes

We will develop drug therapies that will successfully intervene in the course of neurodegenerat-ive diseases, with an emphasis on Alzheimer's disease (AD). One of the main reasons that efficacioustreatments for AD are unavailable is due to the lack of a model system facilitating the development ofdrug screening protocols. Preliminary evidence gathered demonstrated by immunoblot analysis thatAD-specific antigens can be induced in a human neuroblastoma cell line. Phase I will expand on thisfinding by identifying more cell lines that express AD antigens, identifying cellular treatment conditionsthat affect expression, and by developing a rapid enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELlSA) protocol to detectspecific AD antigens induced in cultured cells. This assay will allow us to efficiently screen largenumbers of drugs in Phase Il of this proposal for compounds that will prevent the appearance ofAD-specific antigens.