IGF2 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 2), a protein that plays a fundamental role in numerous physiological functions and in the processes of report and learning, could become a therapeutic target for the treatment of cognitive deterioration associated with aging and, therefore, in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. This is reported in the doctoral thesis of María Pascual, a researcher at the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra, whose main results were published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.

"We observed that IGF2 levels are decreased in relation to age, which suggested its possible involvement in cognitive impairment associated with aging. This is why we developed an experimental gene therapy system based on adeno-associated viruses for IGF2 expression over a prolonged period of time," explained the researcher. Thus, it was observed that in aged animals the administration of IGF2 "enhanced cognitive function".

In the case of Alzheimer's disease, it was seen how the application of this protein reversed the deficit of report in the animals by increasing the density of dendritic spines. "In this disease, there is a reduction in the issue of dendritic spines in the neurons of brain regions involved in the processes of report and learning and, consequently, an alteration in the connections between them, so that the neurons stop communicating correctly and end up dying". However, treatment with IGF2 was able to reverse this effect. Likewise, the IGF2 factor, through its receptor IGF2R, managed to reduce the levels of β-amyloid, the main histopathological marker of the disease.

The thesis has been carried out at the laboratory of Neurobiology of Alzheimer's Disease of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) and directed by Dr. Ana García-Osta and Dr. Mar Cuadrado-Tejedor.