Refuting the Link Between Persistent Herpesvirus Infection and Alzheimer ' s Disease

There is a reasonable mechanism by which persistent viral infections might raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease: amyloid-β is an antimicrobial peptide, a part of the innate immune system. The presence of viral particles will contribute to greater production of amyloid-β, which will accelerate the pace at which amyloid-β might aggregate in older individuals due to an imbalance between production and clearance. The aggregates then cause the usual progression to neural inflammation, damage, and cognitive decline. Does the epidemiological data support a role for persistent herpes viruses in Alzheimer's risk, however? Previous studies suggested yes, but here researchers dismantle and refute one of those studies, while suggesting that people need to be more careful when using statistics. This sequence of events happens more often than you might think in the research community. Like all types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is characterized by massive death of brain cells, the neurons. Identifying the reason why neurons begin and continue to die in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients is an active area of research. One theory that has gained traction in the past year is that certain microbial infections, such as those caused by viruses, can trigger Alzheimer's disease. A 2018 study reported increased levels of human herpesvirus in the postmortem brain tissues of more than 1,000 patients with Alzheimer's disease when compared to the brain tissues of healthy-aging ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs