Biofocus has announced that its Flexselect target discovery platform was used to discover the novel Alzheimer's drug target recently described in the journal, Science.
The paper describes how the Biofocus Flexselect platform was used to identify drug targets that effect the production of beta-amyloid, a protein in the brains of Alzheimer's patients that is believed to cause the disease.
In the high-throughput functional genomics screen, more than 1,900 unique genes encoding potential drug targets from the Flexselect collection were systematically screened in a cellular assay relevant to Alzheimer's disease.
From this target discovery campaign, the orphan G-protein coupled receptor, GPR3, was identified as a particularly interesting drug target since it enhances beta-amyloid production and has been mapped to the part of the genome associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and is expressed in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
The validation studies described in Science further confirm this protein's potential as a promising drug target.
GPR3 is now the focus of a drug discovery programme aimed at delivering a small molecule to treat Alzheimer's disease.
