According to the article “Specks in the brain attract Alzheimer’s plaque-forming protein.” By Lauren Sanders, on 1:30 pm, December 20, 2017. Inflamed areas of the brain appear to attract a protein responsible for alzheimer’s.
Researchers think that these inflammatory blobs is an early step in the development of alzheimer’s. What the researchers want to do is to prevent the buildup of amyloid-beta, the protein found in brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery of the inflammatory protein that can prompt A-beta to clump around is very impotent. Researchers led by Michael Heneka of the University of Bonn in Germany have been studying little blobs of a protein called ASC which gets made as part of the inflammatory response which A-Beta starts. The large blobs of protein that are created by and produced by brain immune cells called microglia when inflammation starts to occur. A-beta accumulates around ejected ASC blobs in the empty space between two cells. Also A-beta can seemingly attach itself to the ASC as shown in some trials.
The two proteins were also found connected in brain tissue taken from people with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers did not spot any ASC specks mixed with A-beta in any other people’s brains who did not suffer from the disease. To add on mice made to produce an excess of A-beta had shown signs of its accumulation in their brains at 8 and 12 months of age. On the other hand mice with little A-beta had much less accumulation.
Similar reductions in A-beta loads came when researchers used an antibody to prevent A-beta from sticking to ASC specks, these results suggest the specs are needed for A-betta to clump up. To work as a treatment, an antibody like the one in the study that keeps A-beta from sticking to ASC would need to be able to enter the brain and persist at high levels — a big challenge, Ransohoff says. Still, the results are promising, he says. “I like the data. I like the line of experimentation.”This applies to the real world because in the U.
S alone over 5.5 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer’s disease. This includes an estimated 5.3 million people aged above 65. This could potentially ease the burden of Alzheimer’s disease for millions of people as well as improve living conditions for those affected.
This same way of blocking certain proteins form connecting can potentially provide a cure for other illnesses. Also Alzheimer’s disease can lead to problems with relationships because of the side effects such as memory loss. So this could help people who are not even actually affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
