Novel perspectives on anti-amyloid treatment for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease
The VIB-KU Leuven team discovered that disease -causing mutations in Gamma secretase and APP disrupt the cleavage process leading to the generation of longer amyloid beta fragments that are only partially digested. These longer amyloid fragments are thought to cause widespread neuronal death, resulting in memory problems and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, before aggregating into amyloid plaques (a hallmark of the disease). The researchers uncovered that the disease-causing mutations disrupt this process by weakening the interactions of Gamma Secretase and APP during the progressive cleavages. In that way they promote the premature release of longer amyloid beta fragments. The more the Gamma Secretase-APP interaction is undermined, the sooner Alzheimer's disease develops. The report also suggests that changes in the cellular environment could modulate the interaction between Gamma secretase and APP, and could therefore also affect someone's risk to develop the non...