Drug companies are now developing gamma secretase inhibitors in an effort to help Alzheimer’s patients.
“Gamma secretase inhibitors are not yet on the market,” said Aster. “However, several colleagues of mine informed me that gamma secretase inhibitors were being developed in major pharmaceutical companies.”
Clinical trials are slated to begin within the next few months, in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers.
In the meantime, scientists are studying the NOTCH1 gene and its role in leukemia.
“We want to understand the basic events in NOTCH1 signalling,” said Stephen Blacklow, associate professor of pathology at HMS and co-author of the study. “Hopefully this will lead to the discovery of broad-based mutations underlying all cancers.”
—Staff writer Risheng Xu may be reached at xu4@fas.harvard.edu.