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Va. — Researchers at Virginia Tech are working to understand how obesity may contribute to earlier memory loss, focusing on a specific protein in the brain that accumulates at a faster rate in obese subjects
Dr. Timothy Jarome, a professor at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is leading the research
His lab has identified a protein — referred to as K63 — that appears to play a role in memory decline
“When you had too much of this protein, we’ll call it K63, that you had poorer memory. And what we’re actually finding is that with obesity, we’re actually seeing an accumulation of this protein,” Jarome said
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Jarome’s team tracks the K63 protein in rats fed a high-fat diet. The protein becomes more active as memory declines, and the research shows it accumulates more rapidly in obese subjects than in those experiencing normal aging
“With obesity, we’re finding that this protein is also accumulating. But it’s accumulating much faster than we would typically see with normal aging. And so, we would see it at an earlier point in life than you would normally,” Jarome said
An additional finding from the research: the same changes observed in older obese rats are also occurring in younger obese brains
In earlier research, Jarome found that lowering K63 protein levels using a gene editing technique improved memory in older rats
His team is now applying that approach to obese subjects
“So far, using it in a rodent model that mimics humans very well, we’ve been able to actually reduce this protein’s levels within the old brain. And we’re currently doing it in the obese brain. And in the old brain, it was actually able to restore memory. And so we’re hoping the same could occur in the obese brain,” Jarome said
Jarome said obesity is among the largest known risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease, though the connection between the two has not been fully established
“Obesity is actually one of the largest risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease. But we don’t know how the two are connected,” he said
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