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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Scientists have discovered the reason why Alzheimer's disease develops in the brain-which is very different from previous views

    Scientists have discovered the reason why Alzheimer's disease develops in the brain-which is very different from previous views

    • Last Update: 2021-11-14
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    For the first time, researchers used human data to quantify the cause of Alzheimer's disease and found that the way it develops is very different from previously thought
    .


    Their results may have important implications for the development of potential treatments


    An international research team led by the University of Cambridge found that Alzheimer’s disease does not start from a single point in the brain, triggering a chain reaction that causes brain cell death, but reaches different areas of the brain early
    .


    The rate at which the disease kills cells in these areas by producing toxic protein clusters limits the overall rate of disease development


    The researchers used post-mortem brain samples from Alzheimer's disease patients and PET scans of living patients ranging from mild cognitive impairment to advanced Alzheimer's disease patients to track the accumulation of tau protein
    .


    Tau protein is one of two key proteins related to Alzheimer's disease


    "This study shows the value of using human data instead of imperfect animal
    models.


    -Thomas Knowles

    In Alzheimer's disease, tau and another protein called amyloid-beta form tangles and plaques—collectively called aggregates—that cause brain cell death and brain atrophy
    .


    This can lead to memory loss, personality changes, and difficulty in daily activities


    By combining 5 different data sets and applying them to the same mathematical model, the researchers observed that the mechanism that controls the rate of progression of Alzheimer’s disease is the replication of aggregates in a single area of ​​the brain, rather than aggregates from Diffusion from one area to another
    .

    The findings published in the journal Science Advances have opened up new avenues for understanding the progress of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as new avenues for future treatments
    .

    For many years, people have used terms such as "cascade" and "chain reaction" to describe the brain processes that cause Alzheimer's disease
    .


    This is a difficult disease to study because it has been developed for decades, and a definite diagnosis can only be given after examining the brain tissue samples after death


    For many years, researchers have mainly relied on animal models to study this disease
    .


    The results obtained from mice indicate that Alzheimer's disease spreads rapidly because toxic protein clusters accumulate in different parts of the brain


    The lead author of this paper, Dr.
    Georg Meisl (Georg Meisl) from the Youssef Hamid Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, said: “People have always believed that Alzheimer’s Cancer is similar: it gathers in one area and then spreads to the whole brain
    .


    " "But instead, we found that when Alzheimer's disease started, several areas of the brain had already gathered some material, so we tried to prevent the spread between areas.


    This is the first time that human data has been used to track the process of controlling the development of Alzheimer's disease over time
    .


    This is due in part to the chemical kinetics method developed by the University of Cambridge in the past decade, which can simulate the process of aggregation and diffusion in the brain, as well as the advancement of PET scans and the increased sensitivity of other brain measurements
    .

    "This study shows the value of using human data instead of imperfect animal models for research," said Professor Thomas Knowles, a senior co-author also from the Department of Chemistry
    .
    "It's exciting to see progress in this field-15 years ago, we and others determined the basic molecular mechanisms of simple systems in test tubes; but now we can study this process at the molecular level of real patients.
    It is an important step in the development of treatment methods in the future
    .
    "

    The researchers found that the replication of tau protein aggregates is surprisingly slow-it takes up to 5 years
    .
    "Neurons are surprisingly good at preventing the formation of aggregates, but if we are to develop an effective treatment, we need to find a way to make them better," said David, a senior co-author of the Institute of Dementia at the University of Cambridge.
    Sir Kellerman said
    .
    "How biology has evolved to prevent protein aggregation is interesting
    .
    "

    Researchers say their research methods can be used to help develop treatments for Alzheimer's disease
    .
    It is estimated that Alzheimer's disease affects 44 million people worldwide
    .
    In addition, the method can be applied to other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease
    .

    Knowles said: "The key finding is that at the stage of the disease we are studying, preventing the replication of aggregates is more effective than their reproduction
    .
    "

    Researchers are now planning to study the early stages of the disease's development and expand the research to other diseases, such as frontotemporal dementia, traumatic brain injury and progressive supranuclear palsy, in which tau protein aggregation also forms
    .

    references:

    “In vivo rate-determining steps of tau seed accumulation in Alzheimer's disease” by Georg Meisl, Eric Hidari, Kieren Allinson, Timothy Rittman, Sarah L.
    DeVos, Justin S.
    Sanchez, Catherine K.
    Xu, Karen E.
    Duff, Keith A .
    Johnson, James B.
    Rowe, Bradley T.
    Hyman, Tuomas PJ Knowles and David Klenerman, 29 October 2021,  Science Advances .

    DOI: 10.
    1126/sciadv.
    abh1448

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