A multidisciplinary team at the USC Center for Personalized Brain Health (CPBH) is targeting a family of enzymes that may increase the risk of brain inflammation in people with mutations in the APOE4 gene, the most important genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, as a way to prevent the disease.
Scientists led by CPBH Director Hussein Yassin, MD, have successfully identified a promising pathway to stop brain inflammation before it causes damage by activating or inhibiting enzymes.
Now, the Norman and Mary Pattis Foundation is also joining the fight, donating $3 million to the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California to support promising research, including new drug discovery and other efforts aimed at early detection and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
The future begins to move
The newly established Norman and Mary Pattis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund will provide pilot funding to accelerate priority projects at the University of Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). In addition to drug targeting, including the development of imaging modalities, and the use of artificial intelligence to pinpoint small molecules involved in brain inflammation, the fund will also support efforts to modernize the center’s brain pathology library and examine markers of brain inflammation in Alzheimer’s patients.
The funding will also enable plans to create a registry for early detection of individuals at high risk for neuroinflammation based on APOE4 gene mutations and cardiovascular risk factors.
“We are extremely grateful to the Norman and Mary Pattis Foundation for having the foresight to support research that breaks new ground,” said Helena Chan Chui, MD, ADRC Director and Raymond and Betty McCarron Professor of Neurology. “This willingness to explore bold hypotheses has helped advance neurodegenerative disease research over the past several years.”
“Norman and Mary Pattis were pioneers in their respective careers, and we want to honor their legacy by continuing to bring that same spirit of innovation and determination in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” said Karen Kerrigan, Pattis Foundation board chair and former business manager for Norman Pattis.
The other members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors are three longtime friends and colleagues: Norman Pattis-Larry Freeman, Paul Krasnow, and Jeff Hershberg. “Every member of our board has personal experience of having a loved one affected by Alzheimer’s disease,” said Freeman, a longtime USC supporter. “We feel that Norman and Mary will be excited about the impact this gift could have in the search for solutions to this devastating disease.”
The Norman and Mary Pattis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund will recruit APOE4 carriers through USC ARDC’s GeneScreen, an Alzheimer’s disease prevention registry focused on identifying genetic risk, and CPBH SPARK, a registry focused on understanding how lifestyle and health influence brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease risk.
look for clues
Foundation support will also establish the Norman and Mary Pattis Foundation Endowed Associate Professorship in Neuropathology, expanding the important focus of neuropathology in ADRC’s research efforts.
The inaugural holder is Anne Hiniker, MD, PhD, director of the USC ADRC Neuropathology Core, where researchers study signs of disease, disease progression, and how changes in the brain are related to the protein buildup seen in Alzheimer’s disease.
Funding from the Pattis Foundation will provide Dr. Hiniker with protected research time to expedite the capture of inflammatory markers or labels in more than 1,100 brain tissue samples in the USC ADRC Neuropathology Core.
I am honored to serve as the first Pattis Endowed Associate Professor. We want to do justice to the legacy of Norman and Mary Pattis with ambitious research that prepares new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. ”
Dr. Anne Hiniker, MD, USC ADRC Neuropathology Core Director
two creative donors
American broadcast entrepreneur Norman Pattis founded Westwood One, a radio syndication company, in 1976. The company became the nation’s largest radio network and a leading global media company, leading to Pattis’ induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
Norman Pattis supported causes he cared deeply about, including communications, education, and science. He served on the University of California Board of Trustees, as well as the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the United States Broadcasting Board.
Mary Turner Pattis had an impressive career of her own as a silky on-air voice known as “The Burner, Mary Turner” on air during the rock and roll era of the 1970s and 80s. As a popular disc jockey, she was credited as part of the musical soundtrack of the era and was often hailed as the “first lady of rock radio” in Los Angeles. In 2023, Mary was inducted into the Radio Legends Hall of Fame.
She left her radio job to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology and became a certified substance abuse counselor. In 2010, she was elected president of the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. She was the first non-Ford family member to chair the center and later oversaw its merger with the Hazelden Foundation in 2013. She also served on the board of the newly formed Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation for several years.
Norman Pattis and Mary Pattis will pass away in 2022 and 2023, respectively, leaving behind a board of directors that they entrusted to fostering causes that matter in people’s lives. The board previously funded an endowed chair in ovarian cancer research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Its latest gift cements the Foundation’s significant footprint in the Keck Medicine ecosystem at USC.
focus on brain health
Although the APOE gene is a risk factor, it does not guarantee development of Alzheimer’s disease. In one of CPBH’s studies on differences in APOE4 carriers, Dr. Yassin’s team found that people with elevated levels of the enzyme calcium-dependent phospholipase A2, or cPLA2, developed dementia.
Dr. Yassin and his collaborators then identified possible drug therapies that selectively target cPLA2 while protecting normal cell function from side effects.
The research team hopes to extend this important discovery to discover other targets that similarly cause neuroinflammation, with the aim of developing new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease.
“Our goal is to determine whether these potential targets and therapeutic pathways are safe, viable, and ultimately meaningful for human disease,” Dr. Yassin said.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Norman and Mary Pattis Foundation, we have a better chance of pursuing these important questions and finding answers that will move us forward,” he added.
sauce:
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
