On Wednesday, the researchers from the United States mentioned that a nerve-protecting enzyme could help in developing new treatment method for Alzheimer's disease.

According to researchers, SIRT1 enzyme can help in the prevention of developing a toxic protein that damages the brain cells.

Li Gan of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco said that people suffering from Alzheimer's disease often have low levels of the protective enzyme.

She also said that new drugs can be made, which would increase the level of the enzyme and prevent the formation of toxic protein ‘tau’.

She added, "This is definitely the first step toward finding new strategies to reduce tau”.

For the study, Li Gan and her team tried to find out the connection between SIRT1 enzyme and p-tau protein that is strongly linked with Alzheimer's disease.

They tested a chemical that restores the levels of SIRT1 enzyme and found that it restricted the formation of toxic p-tau. The study report has been published in the journal Neuron.

It is worth mentioning that as many as 26 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease across the world.

Alzheimer's is a fatal form of dementia that kills the brain cells and severely declines memory and thinking power of the patient. The patients are unable to take care of themselves.