Tau Protein Spreads Like Virus in AD

[Guest guest]

Yesterday I posted this news to the LBDA Forum, and noted that " this seems like

important news. " Looks like my guess was right because I'm getting lots of

emails from organizations spreading the news today.

Here are excerpts:

" But for more than a quarter-century, researchers have been unable to decide

between two explanations. One is that the spread may mean that the disease is

transmitted from neuron to neuron, perhaps along the paths that nerve cells use

to communicate with one another. Or it could simply mean that some brain areas

are more resilient than others and resist the disease longer. The new studies

provide an answer. And they indicate it may be possible to bring Alzheimer's

disease to an abrupt halt early on by preventing cell-to-cell transmission,

perhaps with an antibody that blocks tau. "

" The question of which hypothesis was correct — tau spreading cell to cell, or a

bad neighborhood in the brain and cells with different vulnerabilities to it —

remained unanswerable. Dr. Hyman said he tried for 25 years to find a good way

to address it. "

" He and others are also asking if other degenerative diseases spread through the

brain because proteins pass from nerve cell to nerve cell. Dr. Hardy thought he

saw provocative human evidence that it might be happening in Parkinson's

disease. "

Robin

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/health/research/alzheimers-spreads-like-a-viru\

s-in-the-brain-studies-find.html?_r=1

February 1, 2012

Faulty Protein Is Like a Virus in Alzheimer's

By Kolata

New York Times