Alzheimer Amyloid-B peptide may have immune function
Kristen Sparrow • May 29, 2016
So even Alzheimer’s condition may have an autoimmune component. It turns out that the Amyloid B protein captures bacteria. What’s unclear is whether it has actually fought infection, or is an overactive immune system. There is a full link to the article at the site.
Rehabilitation of a β-amyloid bad boy
A protein called Aβ is thought to cause neuronal death in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Aβ forms insoluble aggregates in the brains of patients with AD, which are a hallmark of the disease. Aβ and its propensity for aggregation are widely viewed as intrinsically abnormal. However, in new work, Kumar et al. show that Aβ is a natural antibiotic that protects the brain from infection. Most surprisingly, Aβ aggregates trap and imprison bacterial pathogens. It remains unclear whether Aβ is fighting a real or falsely perceived infection in AD. However, in any case, these findings identify inflammatory pathways as potential new drug targets for treating AD.
