A method of treating a
neurological disorder comprising administering a
leptin peptide fragment comprising amino acids located within the region of amino acids 116-125 of
leptin is disclosed. The
leptin peptide fragment preferably comprises up to 30 amino acids, and / or wherein the leptin
peptide fragment comprises one or more amino acids located between amino acids 116-122 of leptin, for example the sequence X1CX2LPX3X4 wherein X1 is selected from G or S; X2 is selected from S, H or P; X3 is selected from Q, H, W, L, P or R and X4 is selected from T, A, or V (SEQ ID NO:14) or the sequence SCHLPWASGL (SEQ ID NO:22). The
neurological disorder can include those which would benefit from treatment through cognitive enhancement and / or
neuroprotection, such as age-associated
memory impairment or loss, mild
cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's
disease, and can include Parkinson's
disease,
frontotemporal dementia, progressive
supranuclear palsy, Pick's
disease,
corticobasal degeneration, alcoholic
dementia, (DLB)
dementia with Lewy bodies, Picks' disease, thalamic
dementia, hippocampal sclerosis, Hallervorden-Spatz, multiple
system atrophy, tauopathies, subacute aterioscleroitic
encephalopathy (Binswanger's disease),
amyloid angiopathy,
vasculitis, prion diseases, and paraneoplastic syndromes. The invention also includes a
pharmaceutical formulation for this method, which can include the peptide in the form of a
cyclic peptide or
a peptide conjugate.