Role of rogue protein seen as clue to Alzheimer's cure

[DainBramaged]

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE seems to spread like an infection from brain cell to brain cell, two new studies find. But instead of viruses or bacteria, what is being spread is a distorted protein known as tau.

The surprising finding answers a longstanding question and has immediate implications for developing treatments, researchers said. And, they said, they suspected other degenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson's, may spread in the brain in a similar way.

Alzheimer's researchers have long known dying, tau-filled cells first emerge in a small area of the brain where memories are made and stored. The disease then slowly moves outwards to larger areas of the brain that involve remembering and reasoning.

Advertisement: Story continues below But for more than a quarter century, they have been unable to decide between two explanations. The spread may mean the disease is transmitted from neuron to neuron, perhaps along the paths nerve cells use to communicate with one another. Or it could simply mean some brain areas are more resilient than others and so resist the disease longer.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/role-of-rogue-protein-seen-as-clue-to-alzheimers-cure-20120202-1qvo4.html#ixzz1lGM3vL6K