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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and obesity are two significant health challenges impacting Hong Kong’s aging population: they not only strain the healthcare system but also affect the overall quality of life for individuals and communities.
Statistics from the Department of Health (DH) show that the number of people aged 60 and above with dementia in Hong Kong is projected to soar more than threefold to over 332,600 people from 2009 to 2039. The rising prevalence of AD puts extra strain on Hong Kong due to its rapidly aging population.
On the other hand, obesity rates have surged. According to the DH’s Population Health Survey 2020-22, 32.6 percent of persons aged between 15 and 84 were obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases, including hypertension, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and sleep apnoea.
Dr. Iyaswamy’s study, “Fe65-engineered neuronal exosomes encapsulating corynoxineB ameliorate cognition and pathology of Alzheimer’s disease,” focuses on the interaction between two proteins – APP and Fe65 – in an AD brain and a novel approach to deliver Corynoxine-B to the brain using engineered exosomes. This leads to the amelioration of cognitive functions such as learning and memory and reducing Aβ pathogenesis in AD preclinical models, demonstrating the potential of Fe65-EXO-Cory-B as an effective therapeutic intervention for AD.
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Dr. Wong’s award-winning paper, “Artesunate treats obesity in male mice and non-human primates through the GDF15/GFRAL signalling axis,” shows that treatment with artesunate, an artemisinin derivative approved by the FDA for the treatment of severe malaria, effectively reduces body weight and improves metabolic profiles in preclinical models of obesity, including male mice with overnutrition-induced obesity and male cynomolgus macaques with spontaneous obesity, without inducing nausea and malaise.
Dr Iyaswamy’s research expertise lies in understanding the molecular mechanisms and pathophysiology of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases; developing potential methods for brain drug delivery systems and biomaterials for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases; and identifying possible benefits of Chinese herbal medicine for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.