Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

OLIGOPEPTIDASE INHIBITORS IN BRAIN FUNCTION AND DYSFUNCTION: TOWARDS NEW THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES FOR NEUROPROTECTION

Objective

At present more than 5 million people in the EU suffer from dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases and that number will grow as the average age of the population continues to increase. The efficacy of current medicines is limited and new therapeutic targets are sorely needed. Several independent lines of evidence have established an important role of prolyl oligopeptidase (PREP) in brain function and dysfunction. Aberrant PREP activity is involved in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders and PREP inhibitors are being developed for the treatment of memory and cognition deficits. Now a consortium of expert scientists from 8 academic institutes and 3 SME's come together for 4 years in this NEUROPRO project to boost European research aimed at 1) unravelling the biological role of PREP and PREP-like proteins in neuropathology, 2) determining the mode of action of PREP inhibitors and 3) firmly establishing their therapeutic potential. Specialists from different disciplines – cell and molecular biology, enzymology, chemistry, crystallography, biology and pharmacology – will work in a concerted and focussed way to achieve the goals using 6 work packages concentrating on PREP-regulated pathways in health and disease, PREP substrates, inhibitor target identification, drug development and validation, and generation of specific cell lines and animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. The SME’s involved are leaders in PREP inhibitor development and peptide analysis, and have in the past already brought novel therapeutics on the market. By the end of the project we expect to have proof of concept that PREP inhibition is a valid therapeutic target which will ultimately lead to new methods for the early detection, prevention or restoration of PREP-related neurodegeneration. The project also comprises instruments to translate basic research into clinical applications and will thus broaden the scope of treatments available to Europe's ageing population.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-HEALTH-2007-B
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research project

Coordinator

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
EU contribution
€ 732 983,00
Address
OUDE MARKT 13
3000 LEUVEN
Belgium

See on map

Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (11)

My booklet 0 0