Magdalena Kegel,  —

Researchers at the University of East Anglia, U.K., developed a clever way to study one of the main processes that breaks down in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — spatial memory. Through people using Sea Hero Quest, a game that can be played on mobile devices worldwide, scientists can study how spatial navigation…

Researchers at Osaka University, Japan, have found a new way to speed up the accumulation of amyloid-beta protien in a laboratory setting to better study the aggregation mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease. Because amyloid-beta aggregation characteristics are thought to be a marker of disease, researchers suggest the new method might…

A new study reveals how tau protein drives the formation of stress granules, intended to allow neurons to adapt to stressful conditions, like an injury, during brief periods of time. Findings in the journal Cell Reports show that if stress persists, the tau-stress granule complex does so as well,…

Riluzole, a drug approved for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), might reverse genetic changes often observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. The findings support a clinical trial now exploring if riluzole is beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients. Researchers at Rockefeller University have previously shown that…

An immune molecule called IL-33 can reverse Alzheimer’s disease symptoms and cognitive decline in mice, researchers show in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The findings lend support to theories that humans have a natural defense against Alzheimer’s that decreases…

In the first long-term analysis of its kind, researchers report that depressive symptoms that progressively increase in older age might better predict the development of dementia than any other type of depression – and may, in fact, represent an early disease stage. Many studies have linked depressive symptoms with dementia, but…

All failed attempts to produce a viable vaccine against amyloid-beta in Alzheimer’s disease have one thing in common — they all used vaccine adjuvants that elicit the wrong kind of immune response, says Qantu Therapeutics’ president and CSO, Dante J. Marciani, in a sweeping retrospective analysis that covers errors in past and…

Researchers at two Norwegian institutions found that deficits in the mitochondrial protein PITRM1 led to an accumulation of amyloid-beta, whose deposits in the brain are known to cause Alzheimer’s disease. The findings, drawn from a study of a family with a rare genetic defect, further suggest that mitochondria is a key player in neurodegenerative diseases.

A family of six mitochondrial small humanin-like peptides (SHLPs) showed promising effects on cell survival and metabolism in preclinical studies of aging, a finding with long-reaching implications for age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. The findings were announced by the biotechnology company CohBar, which holds the exclusive license for developing SHLPs…

Before any signs of cognitive decline start showing, neuronal synaptic connections are lost in mice destined to develop Alzheimer’s. New research shows that microglia – brain immune cells – destroy synapses in a fashion resembling processes in the developing brain, suggesting that it might be possible to develop drugs targeting…