Amyloid-beta plaques in brain tissueWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, NEPHRON
Many neurological diseases are caused by misfolded proteins that gather in large, destructive clumps, causing neuronal degeneration. Some of these proteins can also convert normal versions into their own twisted images, thus spreading the disease throughout the brain. The classic examples are prion diseases like mad cow disease and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (CJD). They are caused by misshapen forms of the PrP protein, which corrupts the shapes of normal PrPs.
Now, new research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that Alzheimer’s disease might work in a similar way. Its hallmarks include tangled clumps of amyloid-beta, a peptide (protein fragment) that aggregates in large plaques, which according to the new study, can seed more protein clusters, creating a wave of plaques ...
