Astrocyte Reactivity in the Development of Alzheimer ' s Disease

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) consistently shows up in proteomic analyses of age-related neurodegenerative processes, particularly now that more research groups are engaged in building early warning biomarker profiles for the later development of Alzheimer's disease. Such studies are usually focused on Alzheimer's disease because that is where most neuroscience funding is directed, but the presence of GFAP as a marker is more generally applicable to the aging of the brain and its supporting cell populations. Astrocyte cells exhibit increased expression of GFAP when they become reactive, it is a well-known marker of this state. Reactivity occurs in response to damage and altered signaling in the tissue environment characteristic of blood-brain barrier disruption, injury, and neurodegenerative disease. The reactivity of astrocytes is straightforward to describe, in terms of changed expression of markers and changed morphology, but the consequences of reactivity are far from fully mapped at the detail level. Reactivity may overlap with cellular senescence, but not all reactive astrocytes are senescent. The presence of reactive astrocytes is clearly associated with the progression of neurodegenerative conditions, however. Longitudinal progression of blood biomarkers reveals a key role of astrocyte reactivity in preclinical Alzheimer's disease Defining the progression of blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is essential for targeting treatme...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs