"A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research has finally answered a question scientists have been asking for years."
"Scientists have discovered how brain cells die when people develop Alzheimer’s, a study published in Science revealed."
“This is a very important and interesting finding,” researcher Bart De Strooper, from the UK Dementia Research Institute, told the BBC.
"He continued, “For the first time, we get a clue to how and why neurons die in Alzheimer’s disease. There’s been a lot of speculation for 30-40 years, but nobody has been able to pinpoint the mechanisms.”
“By introducing human neurons into the brains of these rodents, the scientists were able to identify the exact mechanism of neuronal destruction: activation of the MEG3 gene induces necroptosis, a genetically programmed cell death, which is also present in cancer. A drug approved for the treatment of leukemia, ponatinib, and another for melanoma, dabrafenib, prevented neuronal death in these mice. The anti-inflammatory necrosulfonamide achieves the same effect. ”
If they can stop the cell death, that seems key, as the misfolded proteins can be present in healthy people too.
Amyloid plaques are the body's repair mechanism for the damage not the cause of the damage. To blame amyliod plaque for causing Alzheimer's is is like blaming fire fighters for causing fires.
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