Magdalena Kegel,  —

Merck’s amyloid-lowering drug, verubecestat, has proceeded to Phase 3 clinical trials after early studies showed it safely lowered the levels of amyloid-beta, the protein linked to neurodegeneration in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Although the news may be reason for optimism, it remains to be seen if the treatment…

Vaccine development strategies for Alzheimer’s disease should attempt to mirror the natural immunity against toxic amyloid-beta, instead of venturing on uncertain paths, Dr. Dante Marciani argued in a feature article discussing Alzheimer’s disease vaccine development. The feature, “Rejecting the Alzheimer’s disease vaccine development for the wrong reasons,” which recently…

Alzheimer’s disease starts with neurodegenerative changes in basal brain structures, and spreads to more superficial layers as the disease progresses, new research reports — a finding that challenges the widely held view that the disease originates in the brain’s cortex. The findings, reported in the study, “Basal forebrain degeneration…

Abnormalities in the brain’s cellular power plants, known as mitochondria, may drive early Alzheimer’s processes — even before the telltale amyloid plaque that marks the disease starts forming in the brain. The finding suggests that treatments that target the abnormal energy-making processes may be a new way of approaching Alzheimer’s…

Antibodies extracted from llamas can visualize amyloid-beta plaque and tau deposits in the brains of live animals — a finding that may lead to a way to track Alzheimer’s disease-related brain changes in people before symptoms appear. The antibodies were shown to work in mice, but researchers have been unable to visualize their…

Scientists have reported the discovery of a factor capable of lowering levels of tau in the brain. Tau is a protein high on the list of potential villains in Alzheimer’s disease. The study, “Reduction of Nuak1 Decreases Tau and Reverses Phenotypes in a Tauopathy Mouse Model,” was published in the journal Neuron. The…

The mutated gene, as well as the position of the mutation within a gene, impact the kind of symptoms patients with dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease develop, according to new research. These findings also underscored the notion that familial Alzheimer’s is a highly variable condition, making genetic testing a crucial component…

Patients with inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease have neurological symptoms other than memory loss, suggesting that physicians need watch for less typical symptoms when suspecting familial Alzheimer’s in a patient. While the study also found atypical symptoms can differ among patient groups, a comment suggested that such differences partly reflect the large…

According to a new study, people who have brain deposits of another faulty protein called TDP-43, in addition to amyloid-beta and tau aggregates, have a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than those having only plaques and tangles. The study, “TDP-43 stage, mixed pathologies, and clinical…

Researchers have identified the factor at the end of a molecular chain of events killing nerve cells which have been exposed to damage from disease processes such as stroke and possibly Alzheimer’s or a wide variety of other injuries. The study, “A nuclease that mediates cell death induced by DNA damage…