Further Consideration of Subtypes of Alzheimer ' s Disease

There has been some thought given to whether Alzheimer's disease is a collection of fairly distinct subtypes, with different origins and different dominant processes of pathology. The evidence for subtypes of Alzheimer's disease is suggestive, as noted in this article. It remains to be seen as to what the research community will do with all of this data, but it is possible that some therapies are not as bad as originally thought, if analysis were restricted to only one subtype of Alzheimer's disease. Proteins floating in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) might do more than diagnose Alzheimer's disease (AD) - they may identify different subtypes. Of the 3,863 proteins measured, 1,058 were either more or less abundant in people with AD. Researches clustered these by whether they were upregulated or downregulated in sync, then used gene ontology to identify biological pathways associated with each cluster. Proteomic profiles suggested five subtypes based on cellular processes predicted to be dysfunctional: the three previously identified - neuronal hyperplasticity, innate immune activation, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysregulation - and two new ones, dubbed choroid plexus dysfunction and RNA dysregulation. Among the 419 people with AD, 137 fell into the neuronal hyperplasticity subtype. Upregulation of proteins involved in synapse assembly, axon guidance, and neurogenesis and gliogenesis suggested overactive neuron signaling and possibly an overabundance of neuron...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs