In the year just past, Alzheimer’s researchers, families, and stakeholders felt renewed hope that new treatments might be within grasp. This update from the Alz Forum summarises how some of the increased funding might be spent.
Developing computational algorithms & machine-learning techniques, to transform cross-sectional imaging data to a longitudinal picture and reconstruct the sequence of disease progression.
Traffic and industrial exhaust have long been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, but far fewer studies have examined what this smog might do to the brain.
Check out the “booths” in this new section of the AlzForum to learn about products and services that could accelerate your research.
The notorious amyloid precursor protein, central to Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, sports a new look on Alzforum’s Mutations database.
Brush, Floss, Take a Protease Inhibitor? Do periodontal bacteria cause some cases of Alzheimer’s disease? Scientists at one start-up think so.
In AD, tau tangles correlate closely with neurodegeneration, but how they work their mischief remains unclear… or does it?
Mutations in the transmembrane domain of Aβ-protein precursor cause early onset familial Alzheimer’s disease. They can increase the ratio of the amyloidogenic Aβ42 to the less-sticky Aβ40, but how exactly do these FAD mutations alter the processing of APP?
Though Aβ-targeted therapies hogged the limelight at this year’s CTAD Conference a large handful of smaller studies had findings to report, as well.
Could a person’s sex dictate how his or her brain reacts to amyloid? Stephen Ferguson, University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Institute, Canada, thinks it may. In a paper published December 15 in Science Signaling, his group reported that Aβ bound to the mGluR5 metabotropic glutamate receptor in postmortem brain tissue from men but not women.
Many people with Lewy body diseases (LBDs) such as Parkinson’s ultimately develop dementia, and many have Aβ plaques and tau tangles. Do they have two diseases at the same time, or is this combination of scourges a unique entity unto itself?
The first new drug for Alzheimer’s disease in more than 16 years in the U.S.? The FDA will be making a judgement within the next six months.