Is Depletion of Soluble Amyloid- β the Reason Why Amyloid is Important in Alzheimer ' s Disease?

The long years of failure to improve outcomes in Alzheimer's disease patients via the development of immunotherapies targeting amyloid-β has provoked a great deal of alternative theorizing and new exploration regarding the causes of the condition. The amyloid cascade hypothesis of the progression of Alzheimer's disease is being modified in numerous ways. In its original form, the formation of deposits of misfolded amyloid-β causes inflammation and other forms of disarray that sets the stage for later aggregation of tau into neurofibrillary tangles, which leads to the widespread death of neurons.

Some researchers believe that chronic inflammation, or persistent infection, or senescent cell accumulation, or all three, are in fact the primary drivers of the development of Alzheimer's, with amyloid-β aggregation as a side-effect. In this case, the amyloid-β stage of the amyloid cascade is replaced with one or more other mechanisms, with tau aggregation, neuroinflammation, and cell death remaining as the end stage of the condition. Other groups see the failing drainage of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain as a major contributing factor, allowing molecular waste such as aggregated amyloid-β to build up in the brain. Vascular dysfunction and consequent reductions in the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain is another contender as an important cause: outright vascular dementia does overlap significantly with Alzheimer's disease.

Here, researchers propose ye...

Source: Fight Aging! - July 12, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs