New findings contradict dominant theory in Alzheimer’s disease

For decades the amyloid hypothesis has dominated the research field in Alzheimer’s disease. The theory describes how an increase in secreted beta-amyloid peptides leads to the formation of plaques, toxic clusters of damaged proteins between cells, which eventually result in neurodegeneration. Scientists at Lund University, Sweden, have now presented a study that turns this premise on its head.

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A safer vaccination for Alzheimer’s disease?

The research shows that in addition to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, which present the antigen vaccine to the immune cells, genetic factors, that control some immune cells, influence the quality of response to vaccinations. The results could make it possible to prevent neuroinflammatory reactions, which are major obstacles preventing the use of the vaccination in humans. This study has just been published in the Journal of Immunology. Since the beginning of the 2000s, research into Alzheimer’s disease has partly focussed on studying a vaccination composed of amyloid-β peptide (Aß), the accumulation of which in the brain is thought to trigger the disease. Vaccinations with this peptide caused serious neuroinflammatory reactions in 6% of patients. To develop a safer and more effective treatment, it is therefore essential to understand the factors that influence the body’s responses to peptide Aß.

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Award-winning research points toward Alzheimer’s vaccine

An accomplice to the protein that causes plaque buildup in Alzheimer’s disease is the focus of a potential new treatment, according to research by a Georgia Health Sciences University graduate student.

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A gene for Lou Gehrig’s disease and frontotemporal dementia identified

Frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — two fatal neurodegenerative disease with distinct symptoms — are triggered by a common mutation in many cases, according to researchers who say they have identified the mutated gene.

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Breaching the blood-brain barrier

Cornell University researchers may have solved a 100-year puzzle: How to safely open and close the blood-brain barrier so that therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and cancers of the central nervous system might effectively be delivered. (Journal of Neuroscience, Sept. 14, 2011.)

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Aerobic exercise may reduce the risk of dementia, Mayo Clinic researchers say

Any exercise that gets the heart pumping may reduce the risk of dementia and slow the condition’s progression once it starts, reported a Mayo Clinic study published this month in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers examined the role of aerobic exercise in preserving cognitive abilities and concluded that it should not be overlooked as an important therapy against dementia.

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Alzheimer’s brains found to have lower levels of key protein

Researchers have found that a protein variation linked by some genetic studies to Alzheimer’s disease is consistently present in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. In further biochemical and cell culture investigations, they have shown that this protein, known as ubiquilin-1, performs a critical Alzheimer’s-related function: it “chaperones” the formation of amyloid precursor protein, a molecule whose malformation has been directly tied to Alzheimer’s pathology.

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Scientists create natural Alzheimer’s-fighting compound in lab

Scientists at Yale University have developed the first practical method to create a compound called huperzine A in the lab. The compound, which occurs naturally in a species of moss found in China, is an enzyme inhibitor that has been used to treat Alzheimer’s disease in China since the late 1990s and is sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement to help maintain memory. Scientists believe it could also potentially combat the effects of chemical warfare agents.

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Treatment with vitamin C dissolves toxic protein aggregates in Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at Lund University have discovered a new function for vitamin C. Treatment with vitamin C can dissolve the toxic protein aggregates that build up in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. The research findings are now being presented in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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Inherited Alzheimer’s detectable 20 years before dementia

Inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease may be detectable as many as 20 years before problems with memory and thinking develop, scientists will report July 20, 2011, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Paris.

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