Scientists have found an inflammation mechanism that appears to play a key role in the formation of the toxic tau proteins that characterize Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
New research finds that inflammation is responsible for the tau protein damage in Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults. Other forms include vascular, Lewy body, and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Estimates from the National Institute of Aging, which is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), suggest that more than 5.5 million people in the United States have dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.
"With the development of tau pathology, mental abilities decline more and more. Therefore, if tau pathology could be contained, this would be an important step towards a better therapy."
Prof. Heneka is also the senior author of a recent Nature paper on the new findings.
In that study paper, he and his colleagues describe how tau protein transforms under the influence of inflammation processes from the brain's immune system.
One of the functions that tau proteins perform in healthy brains is helping to stabilize the skeleton of the nerve cell or neuron.
However, in Alzheimer's and FTD, tau proteins undergo chemical changes that make them come away from the cell skeleton and stick to each other instead. Without mechanical stability, the cell eventually perishes.
Hyperphosphorylation
What makes the tau proteins detach from the cell scaffolds and stick to each other is a process called hyperphosphorylation that changes the chemical composition and behavior of the protein molecules.
Scientists have found an inflammation mechanism that appears to play a key role in the formation of the toxic tau proteins that characterize Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
New research finds that inflammation is responsible for the tau protein damage in Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults. Other forms include vascular, Lewy body, and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Estimates from the National Institute of Aging, which is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), suggest that more than 5.5 million people in the United States have dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.
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