Alterity Therapeutics presents data on neuroprotection of ATH434

Alterity Therapeutics announced new data related to ATH434 were presented at the Society for Neuroscience 2024 in Chicago, USA. The poster entitled, “Potent Antioxidant and Mitochondrial-protectant Effects of ATH434, a Novel Inhibitor of alpha-Synuclein Aggregation with Moderate Iron-binding Affinity,” demonstrates that the neuroprotective and mitochondrial protectant properties of ATH434 include reducing lipid damage in two distinct and disease-relevant neuronal injury models. Additional studies elucidate the inherent antioxidant properties and benefits of ATH434 in cellular energy usage. ATH434’s antioxidant properties were distinguished from those of another iron binding agent approved for treating iron overload. The study was run under the direction of Dr. Daniel J. Kosman, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The study, authored by Dr. Danielle Bailey, investigated the efficacy of ATH434 and comparator agents as lipid peroxidation protectants using a menadione-induced model and a hemin-induced oxidative stress model in a neuronal cell line. In unstressed cells, ATH434 promoted energy production in mitochondria to a pathway less prone to causing oxidative stress. In-solution assays detailed the mechanisms underlying ATH434’s direct antioxidant capacity with respect to potentially damaging charged molecules. These combined properties can serve to protect vulnerable mitochondria in neurodegenerative diseases.