by <unknown>
The world's pioneering medical factions were rendered completely useless before the disease of the century.
Chen Chen kept a calm expression as his fingers glided across stacks of folders containing data charts. Each one of these folders was five centimeters thick, piling themselves into the size of a miniature mountain.
As Chen Chen scanned through them one after the other, the pile was cut in half within a few hours. As time went on, the stack of folders that he had already gone through began piling up higher and higher.
If someone was there to witness it, they may notice that as Chen Chen went through the folders, the spark in his eyes grew ever brighter to a point where it could illuminate the darkness by itself!
Chen Chen finally heaved a breath after finishing the latest experimental data. He booted up the computer again to compare his findings with the latest extracted data on the Internet.
After completing this final process, Chen Chen thoughtfully closed the webpages.
Excellent, the approach had been determined.
The corner of Chen Chen's lips crooked up with a hint of a smile. Then, he took out a finger-sized piece of chocolate, peeled off the tin foil, and tossed it into his mouth.
NZT-48 enabled the brain to function at accelerated efficiency, but it also greatly exhausted substances such as fat, carbohydrate, and protein. Chocolate was able to make up for these substances as its theobromine was also able to provide a boost for the nervous system and help increase blood oxygen capacity.
On that account, Chen Chen had begun to develop a habit of eating several chocolates after taking the drug.
As the chocolate slowly melted in Chen Chen's mouth, he began to conduct his experiment as well.
He first put on sterile clothes and went through a full disinfection process. Then, he entered the laboratory and put on a disposable glove. After that, he took an NZT-48 and dissolved it in glucose.
At the same time, Chen Chen selected several mice which displayed the most evident signs of nervous system damage. He grouped them accordingly and poured a fitting amount of NZT-48 solution for each of them before settling them in separate observation cages.
This was only one of the experiments.
While researching the NZT-48's effects on Alzheimer's disease, Chen Chen was conducting a separate experiment simultaneously. Unlike the conventional experimental method used, Chen Chen intended to research it from an inflammatory angle.
In the current day and age, the general scientific consensus was that the cause of Alzheimer's disease was "β amyloid deposition" and "abnormal phosphorylation of tau protein". As a result, scientists raised a hypothesis of the etiology of Alzheimer's disease - Amyloid β-Protein Theory.
Presently, most clinical trials had assumed Amyloid β-Protein as the target subject and attempted to break down or prevent the formation of Amyloid β-Protein.
As mentioned before, all of the experimental treatment which based Amyloid β-Protein as the target element had resulted in failures.
This was why Chen Chen had decided to take an approach revolving around inflammatory theory and brain immunity cells.
There were several established hypotheses around Alzheimer's disease, with one being the inflammatory theory. In 2018, Nerve magazine published a research article concerning the discovery of herpes virus in the brain of an Alzheimer's patient.
In the following year in 2019, another team published a thesis in Science detailing their discovery of Porphyromonas Gingivalis in a patient's brain. They then experimented on mice and injected these viruses into their brains. After the mice were deceased, they discovered dead neurons in the mice's brains and also noted an increase in Amyloid β-Protein level.
Nearing the end of 2019 in the journal PNAS, a team noticed a sharp decrease of a protein known as TOM1 in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. TOM1 was a vital element in a form of inflammatory response.
Following the decrease of TOM1 readings, the mice's brains displayed an increase in Amyloid β-Protein. These mice also subsequently experienced cognitive decline. The cognitive abilities of the mice were able to be restored by reversely increasing the concentration of TOM1.
This was the latest findings of the inflammatory theory. Even Professor Evans himself took a similar approach in his experiments.
In addition to the inflammatory approach, Chen Chen further supplemented the immune cell deficiency theory.
One of the unique traits of Alzheimer's disease was the formation of "β deposit" and "Tau tangle" in the brain. A class of immune cells known as microglia was able to protect the brain by eliminating these deposits and tangles.
However, the latest findings revealed that despite microglia's potency in limiting the accumulation of harmful substances, it was a double-edged sword.
This was because microglia were able to secrete a substance known as ApoE. This substance was able to enhance the formation of β deposits. Also, in the later stages of the disease, once the tau tangle was formed, microglia may harm nearby neurons while eliminating the tangles which may lead to neurodegenerative diseases.
Research showed that if microglia was not involved in the process or simply was not simulated, the tau tangle and β deposit would not be accumulated into the later stages of the disease. Similarly, the nervous system would not be harmed as well…
This was Chen Chen's research approach. With these approaches, even if Chen Chen was not able to wholly cure Alzheimer's disease, he was confident he was at least able to limit the severity of the disease, in turn locking the disease of the century in the early stages of its formation!
Chapter 121: Successful Experiment |
Two months later.
Chen Chen stood quietly in the laboratory. His face was rather pale.
Before him, a little white mouse was ceaselessly paddling in a Morris water maze.
This little white mouse was agile in swimming. Although it looked a little confused, it always managed to find the right path quickly after some wrong attempts, finally locating the platform hidden underwater.
No one would be able to tell that these mice were showing signs of severe nerve damage just two weeks ago.
As Chen Chen observed Mouse No. 5 reaching the platform, he gently clicked the timer and said impassively, "28 seconds, 2 seconds faster than yesterday."
Following that, Chen Chen started to fill in the experiment record:
"6-month-old genetically modified model mice were treated with surgical transplantation of cloned neural stem cells. They were also treated with myeloid triggering receptor 2 (Trem2) agonist interleukin 4 (IL-4) to induce microglial activation."
Immunohistochemistry, western blotting, and quantitative fluorescence PCR were used to detect the expression of Trem2 at the protein and gene levels.
"The water maze experiment illustrated that the model mice showed cognitive function recovery in the water maze experiment.
"In this model, after IL-4 treatment, Trem2 expression increased, and the memory and cognitive impairment of model mice were greatly improved.
"Result: The activation of Trem2 may reduce the autophagy of microglia through inflammation."
After that, Chen Chen bent over and caught the mouse that was resting on the platform. He dried it, then fixed it to the CT machine, fastening it so that its head could not rotate.
Then Chen Chen turned on the machine and the CT machine began scanning the brain structure of No. 5.
When he compared the new CT with the previous image, he saw that the mouse's brain structure was much fuller than last week. It had undergone tremendous changes compared to two weeks ago.
If the mouse's brain was said to be like a shriveled walnut two weeks ago, it had significantly filled out now, like a risen dough.
Chen Chen casually sorted this data into corresponding categories. Then, he glanced at the few remaining white mice in the cage that had exhibited the same behavior and he covered the cage.
After this, Chen Chen turned around, grippe
d the head of Mouse No. 5 in one hand and the tail in another hand, then tugged softly.
"Snap!"
There was a sharp snap. No. 5 died in his hand from rapid and effective cervical dislocation.
Chen Chen placed this mouse on the dissection table and started dissecting its brain.
After more than ten minutes, No. 5's brain had been extracted. However, at this point, Chen Chen noticed that the brain of this mouse had not necessarily recovered well.
As Alzheimer's had caused a large number of neuron deaths, many connective tissue masses had formed in the area where these nerve cells died. These tissue masses occupied the original space of the brain, so the brain could not be restored to its previous state.
"What a shame."
Chen Chen shook his head and soaked this brain in a solution filled with formalin.
In the past three months, Chen Chen had used his usual cloning methods to clone this group of mice. At the same time, in these mice that similarly suffered from Alzheimer's, he had applied a compound treatment method.
1. Use the gene overexpression method of TOM1 protein to enhance the brain's resistance to inflammation, thus gradually eliminating inflammation.
2. Use the Solanezumab antibody developed by Eli Lilly to remove Amyloid β-Protein and amyloid deposits in the brain.
Although this drug had failed several clinical trials and was proven unable to treat Alzheimer's disease, its ability to remove Amyloid β-Protein should still be recognized.
3. Injecting neural stem cells extracted from cloned embryos and at the same time, using cytokines to activate G2 resting stem cells that were already in the brain to stimulate the brain to heal itself.
There was one last item — namely, in the early stages of Alzheimer's, the microglia were first activated to actively engulf abnormally deposited proteins.
However, if the disease had entered the middle or even late stage, the opposite method was adopted to inhibit the activation of microglia, until the Solanezumab antibody had been used to clear most of the Aβ deposits before microglia activation.
This was the method that Chen Chen had adopted. Through the treatment of inflammation and neural stem cell transplantation coupled with the intervention of the brain's own immune system, this compound method could completely suppress Alzheimer's disease in the early and mid-term. The disease would not worsen and might even get better.
In truth, it was not that the actual medical world could not achieve this same effect. The only limitation was still the cloning part. Besides, the cost was another factor that restricted this treatment.
After all, just this set of treatment plans would already incur astronomical costs. If this was used in business, a course of treatment would be priced at millions of USD.
As for the steric effect caused by a large number of neuron deaths and the connective tissue occupying the brain, Chen Chen was powerless. Perhaps one good way to remove these connective tissues was by craniotomy.
In terms of NZT-48, due to the lack of time in addition to no solid progress, Chen Chen had stopped the experimentation.
Since the NZT-48 experiment had stopped, Chen Chen started to include his assistants and assigned relatively trivial tasks to them. This was how the experiment results could be so swiftly obtained.
Now that the results had been produced, Chen Chen was not hesitant anymore. He immediately asked his assistant to send in the old chimpanzees that they had prepared in advance.
The scientific community had long discovered that chimpanzees also suffered from Alzheimer's disease, which was the same as that of humans. Therefore, before the experiment on the mice was completed, he had asked his assistants to make Alzheimer's disease models of chimpanzees and to also clone these chimpanzees.
This would save them a lot of time.
Not only that, but Chen Chen had also ordered a member of the team, which was protecting his parents in Mainland China, to head to Shangdu, secretly extract Professor Wang Xi's somatic cells, and bring them back so that he could clone Professor Wang Xi. A few months later, when Professor Wang Xi himself came to the research center, they could immediately use the cloned neural stem cells.
Chen Chen was going to such lengths as a way to repay Professor Wang Xi.
As he thought of this, Chen Chen was about to start the next step of the experiment when his phone rang.
Chen Chen frowned, picked up his phone, and saw that it was a call from the screenwriter of the new movie.
He left the laboratory to his assistant and walked out to answer the call.
"You've revised it? Got it. I'll take a look at it later."
The screenwriter had once again revised the script according to Chen Chen's request and had sent it over to Chen Chen for review.
This was the task Chen Chen had entrusted to the Edwards family.
Chen Chen headed to his own office. Without him giving the order, Little X had already opened his mailbox and projected the received script onto the wall.
Chen Chen spent a few minutes reading through the entire thing, then nodded reluctantly.
The story of the script was set 3 years from the present. This was what Chen Chen had requested. After all, the USB drive only accepted movies that hewed closely to reality. It was safer to directly set it in the real world.
The main plotline concerned an unknown pharmaceutical company in North America. A researcher named Alexander discovered, by chance, a small chemical molecule that could completely inhibit Alzheimer's.
Not only could this small molecule prevent tau tangles and Aβ deposition, but it also eliminated inflammation and completely ended all symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
This drug lay at the core of the story.
The plot itself was an old-fashioned story in which an unknown shady force caught wind of this from somewhere. To obtain a sample of the drug, they began to kidnap the colleagues of the protagonist. After discovering what was happening, the protagonist quickly ran away with the drug and was perpetually hunted down.
Chen Chen had sent back the script a few times before. In desperation, the screenwriter had removed certain parts where the technology or logic did not hold up too well, even though these parts were very dramatic and marketable.
Still, this time, the script almost met Chen Chen's expectations.
It was a pity — Chen Chen did not expect Hollywood to work so slowly. It took two months just from scriptwriting to revision. No matter how fast they worked, they could not possibly put out a movie in the one remaining month.
Nonetheless, fortunately, Chen Chen had found a treatment method for Alzheimer's. As long as it worked on the chimpanzees, Chen Chen could move it into the clinical trial stage.
With this in mind, Chen Chen, who was the investor, replied to the scriptwriter with a "pass".
Now, they could officially begin filming the movie in Hollywood.
Chapter 122: Back to Shangdu |
On the dim, hazy dance floor, the crowded air was filled with the smell of smoke and alcohol.
Currently, Rowling Keith was holding a bottle of brandy as he swayed headily on the dance floor with Jennifer, the most beautiful woman in the company.
Jennifer was in her thirties, with a hot, alluring figure sheathed in a sexy dance skirt. Her enchanting body kept twisting to the rhythm of the dance floor, causing everyone's imagination to run wild.
"Ella, you're mesmerizing tonight."
Keith stretched out his hand with bleary eyes, trying to touch her figure. However, there was only a gentle laugh in his ears. He did not know when, but Jennifer had already moved behind him.
Keith chuckled and quickly turned around to hold her. The both of them left the dance floor, bodies pressed together, and walked out of the bar.
A certain, heavy musk seemed to increasingly pervade the air. They got into the car impatiently. Before Keith could slot in the car key, he felt a sudden, surprising burst of heat beside him, then a scent filled the air…
"Cut!"
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Just then, a voice cried out loudly. A group of strangers suddenly appeared around Keith and Jennifer. Some of them came forward with lights in their hands to light up the place while others proficiently reapplied both of their makeup.
The sultry atmosphere dissipated at once.
At the same time, a little further away, a man dressed like a director was sitting on a recliner and informing everyone loudly, "The third act is complete. Thank you, people! Next is the fourth act. Villains, get ready!"
Following this, everyone bustled about once more.
Currently, Cheng Cao was silently smoking at one side, uninterestedly looking at the flurrying crew. He looked somewhat resigned.
As Qian Wenhuan was managing the construction of the Eco Science City, Chen Chen had sent Cheng Cao to oversee the progress of the filming in Hollywood.
Although Cheng Cao had never worked in the film industry, he was merely acting as an executive producer. Essentially, he was supervising them to make sure the production team did not slack off after taking the money.
At the moment, the shooting had gone on for a week.
This movie Chen Chen had invested in was named Deadly Crisis: A Shocking Scheme. This movie title was a bit trashy, but with the connections of the Edwards family, it had managed to rope in many big movie stars, helmed by the famous Hollywood director Studebaker. It was truly a star-studded team.
The film immediately attracted the attention of many fans since the project was established. These well-known director and actors had their legion of fans. Coupled with promotion by the directors' guild, the buzz it received was not weaker than the fifth Avengers film which had also started filming.
Even so, all this did not concern Cheng Cao. Now, he just sat in a daze next to the director each day or stood in a corner and smoked silently, ignoring everyone.
Even when some of the female crew members secretly contacted Cheng Cao in the middle of the night, trying vainly to get in his pants, Cheng Cao remained unmoved.
