Two proteins central to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease act as prions — misshapen proteins that spread through tissue like an infection by forcing normal proteins to adopt the same misfolded shape — according to new UC San Francisco research.
Using novel laboratory tests, the researchers were able to detect and measure specific, self-propagating prion forms of the proteins amyloid beta (Aß) and tau in postmortem brain tissue of 75 Alzheimer’s patients. In a striking finding, higher levels of these prions in human brain samples were strongly associated with early-onset forms of the disease and younger age at death.
Alzheimer’s disease is currently defined based on the presence of toxic protein aggregations in the brain known as amyloid plaques and tau tangles, accompanied by cognitive decline and dementia. But attempts to treat the disease by clearing out these inert proteins have been unsuccessful. The new evidence that active Aß and tau prions could be driving the disease – published May 1, 2019 in Science Translational Medicine — could lead researchers to explore new therapies that focus on prions directly.
“I believe this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that amyloid beta and tau are both prions, and that Alzheimer’s disease is a double-prion disorder in which these two rogue proteins together destroy the brain,” said Stanley Prusiner, MD, the study’s senior author and director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. “The fact that prion levels also appear linked to patient longevity should change how we think about the way forward for developing treatments for the disease. We need a sea change in Alzheimer’s disease research, and that is what this paper does. This paper might catalyze a major change in AD research.”
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday May 03 2019, @09:05PM (1 child)
I've got a few more years before I really worry about Old Timer's, and i'm glad to see progress.
I am pretty confident that there will be more progress, and i might never have to worry about that disease.
Why the optimism ? I know humans.
Rich aging men seem to mostly fear two diseases : ED and losing their mind.
The first one is mostly solved, so there is a lot of money available for the other.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 03 2019, @09:14PM
Just because rich people want something doesn't mean they know how to get it.
You can give the entire output of the world economy (~$100 trillion/year) to the amyloid-beta knuckleheads and still get nothing in return, it is a black hole.