Drugs being investigated for Alzheimer's disease may be causing further neural degeneration and cell death, calling for a change in the way Alzheimer's medications are developed, according to results published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This finding "would result in a paradigm shift" in the understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying Alzheimer's disease, said linkurl:Brigita Urbanc,;http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~brigita/ professor of biophysics at Drexel University, who was not involved in this study, in an email to The Scientist. Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases are thought to be caused by amyloids composed of misfolded beta peptides. The accumulation of these can result in the creation of amyloid plaques in the brain, causing cell death. Higher levels of amyloid beta peptides lead to "earlier onset or more severe systems of Alzheimer's disease" said Urbanc, and are believed to be the primary cause...
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Image: Wikimedia commons, Boku wa Kage |
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