Life Extension Protein May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease

The life extension protein Klotho decreases with aging, which also leads to a decline in cognitive ability. A previous study revealed that having a genetic variant that increases klotho levels associates with better cognition in normal, healthy individuals, and experimentally elevating klotho in mice enhances learning and memory. Dena Dubal, from the University of California/San Diego (UCSD; California, USA), and colleagues employed a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease in which elevated klotho was promoted.  The team observed that elevating klotho levels ameliorated the cognitive deficits, abnormal brain activity, and premature death to which the animals that would otherwise succumb.   Further, the cognition-enhancing effects of klotho were powerful enough to counteract the effects of Alzheimer-related toxins, whose levels were unchanged. The study authors submit that: “increasing wild-type klotho levels or activities improves synaptic and cognitive functions, and may be of therapeutic benefit in [Alzheimer’s Disease] and other cognitive disorders.”