A Study with Dr. Robert Mahley

[Julie G]

A few of you had questions. I've queried Dr. Mahley and just heard back. For purposes of establishing the first assay, it would be BEST to have participants be from the SFO area in case a second sample is needed. After that, when they are ready for broader samples, they would be delighted to have some of us fly in to give a sample. If they can't find 2-4 local volunteers, they would be happy to arrange for several of us to ship our blood to them. FWIW, age is not an issue. Being an APOE-ε4 homozygote is the only requirement.

If you can help, please sign up here or contact me at juliegee@apoe4.info.

[Silverlining]

You can put me in the "fedex" group if they get to that stage. Thanks.

P.S. Of course if they are ever in DIRE need of double 4 samples, I could probably be persuaded to accept an all expense paid trip out to the West Coast.

[ApropoE4]

ApropoE4, excellent idea for a way to test this quickly.

I'm pretty sure that's what they plan to do.

[Tincup]

My wife is in the FedEx or fly group...

Great news!

[asiagillett]

I will donate if they need it....and I'm also agreeing with Silverlining, a trip to San Fran would be delightful.

A

[ApropoE4]

By the way, it looks like they raised $20 million from 6 investors so far, which seems on the low end. I wonder if they are still looking for investment at this time.

[Harrison]

As far as the approach of a small molecule structure corrector, Vertex has successfully done this for cystic fibrosis. Of course CFTR protein acts in a completely different way than apoE, but at least conceptually it is a correction.

I wonder what Dr. Mahley is looking to measure in blood samples. Maybe they are just seeing if they can change the cholesterol preference of apoE4 (VLDL) to be apoE3 like (HDL).

[Gilgamesh]

Circ, now I see why you posed the ? you did!

Julie wrote: "they’ve formed their new company and are ready to begin testing a new drug that will convert APOE-ε4 to an APOE-ε3 like structure."

Mahley wrote: "...to convert the apoE4 to an apoE3-like normal form of the protein."

Big difference! (The former is the gene, which they're not changing; the latter, the protein product of the gene.)

But when they or someone else is ready to change the gene, then we'll really be at the root of the problem! (Though I almost prefer the protein-correcting approach: apoE4 does have some benefits -- and more may be discovered!)

Harrison, I assume they'll be doing partly what they've done previously with mouse blood -- (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23013167), but not the in vivo testing, of course; at least not yet.

GB

[TheBrain]

I'd be happy to ship my blood to these researchers. What they are attempting to do sounds amazing.

[Julie G]

Quick update: We've had one amazing member volunteer. Another, is a "maybe" due to blood draw issues. I've reached out to a third and haven't heard back.

We still need a few E4 homozygotes from the SFO area to volunteer. If you qualify, please consider becoming a part of APOE-ε4 history. Feel free to contact me via juliegee@apoe4.info to learn more.