A protein’s ebb and flow
Study offers evidence that hallmark substance in Alzheimer's may be produced at normal rates, but cleared too slowly
A menacing substance builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease not because they make too much of it, but rather because they can’t get rid of it, a study appearing online December 9 in Science suggests.
Understanding how the substance, called amyloid-beta, lodges in the brain is likely to yield clues about how Alzheimer’s disease inflicts its devastating damage.
There’s no clear consensus on the ultimate cause of Alzheimer’s, but many scientists think A-beta is at the heart of the disease. The protein is thought to interfere with cells in the brain, scrambling its normal operations.
In some rare forms of Alzheimer’s disease, genetic mutations ramp up the production of A-beta, creating an imbalance that floods the brain with the protein. But the cause of the accumulation is murkier for the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease.