We May Have Been Wrong About What Kills Brain Cells in Alzheimer's Disease

[Judi Lynn]

It's not what we thought.

PETER DOCKRILL 7 JUN 2018
The biological mechanisms that give rise to the cognitive decline of Alzheimer's disease could be due for a major rethink, according to new research.

It's long been thought that the neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's is caused by beta-amyloid plaques – sticky congregations of a protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP), which break down into fragments and clump together into misfolded, toxic aggregates in the brain, impeding neural communication.

The idea is these beta-amyloid plaques are what's responsible for neuron death in cases of Alzheimer's disease – either directly, or by giving rise to tau phosphorylation, in which the protein tau is bent into neurofibrillary tangles that disrupt nutrient supply to brain cells, eventually killing them.

But new findings by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia suggest some of these assumptions may be flawed.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/we-might-been-wrong-what-kills-brain-cells-alzheimer-s-disease-beta-amyloid-tau-protein-app

[question everything]

1. Of course it has been flawed

For more than 20 years pharmaceutical companies insisted on pursuing the line of beta-amyloid even though it was never proven that they are the cause instead of being associated with.

Further, many people carry the amyloid plaques without ever developing Alzheimer's.

I am still waiting for some to think outside the box. To conclude that what we call Azheimer's is a collection of different disease with different caused and paths but with the same symptoms.

Thus, if a certain treatment helps, say, only 10% of patients, don't throw the study away; assume that the ones who benefited are a sub population and concentrate on this group.

But, no. They want to hit the "jackpot." They want to find one treatment to all the millions sufferers with the promised profit.