Li Gan Honored by the Alzheimer’s Association

Li Gan, PhD, has been selected to present the Inge Grundke-Iqbal Lecture for Alzheimer’s Research at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Washington, D.C. in July. This lecture recognizes the senior author of the most impactful study on the biology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related conditions published during the two calendar years preceding the AAIC meeting. Her study, “Progranulin protects against amyloid β deposition and toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models,” was published in Nature Medicine in October 2014.

“We knew that the lack of progranulin caused frontotemporal dementia, and that it affects Alzheimer’s disease, but we didn’t know how,” said Li. “We showed that progranulin protects against AD in a mouse model of the disease.”

The team, led by Li and her postdoctoral fellow S. Sakura Minami, PhD, showed that low levels of progranulin in the brain lead to symptoms that mimic AD in mice. For example, the mice had more amyloid-β plaques (a hallmark of AD), increased inflammation in the brain, and worsened memory deficits. While these results were intriguing, the team went beyond these findings. Using gene therapy to increase the levels of progranulin in the mice, they reversed the symptoms.

The lecture is named for Dr. Grundke-Iqbal, who served as professor and head of neuroimmunology at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities from 1977 until her passing in September 2012. She was a world-renowned neuroscientist and AD researcher who made several seminal findings. Notably, she discovered the relationship between AD and the abnormal hyperphosphorylation of tau, which opened a new area of research in neurodegeneration, especially related to AD and tauopathies.

Neurodegenerative diseases are very complex and often have overlapping symptoms. For some time, Gladstone scientists have been pursuing a strategy called “common threads,” which assumes that multiple diseases share mechanisms and components. The study by Li and Sakura is a great example of the power of that strategy.

“This is indeed an honor for Li and for Gladstone,” said Lennart Mucke, MD. “We are all very proud of Li and her team. Congratulations to all of them.”

Read the press release for the original paper.