Since the discovery of Alzheimer’s disease over a century ago, two hallmarks of the devastating illness have taken center stage.
The first, known as amyloid plaques, are dense accumulations of misfolded amyloid protein, occurring in the spaces between nerve cells. Most efforts to halt the advance of Alzheimer’s disease have targeted amyloid protein plaques. To date, all have met dispiriting failure.
The second classic trait has, until recently, received less scrutiny. It consists of string-like formations within the bodies of neurons, produced by another crucial protein– tau. These are known as neurofibrillary tangles.
In a new study, researchers with the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Center at the Biodesign Institute and their colleagues investigate these tangles in the brain — pathologies not only characteristic of Alzheimer’s but other neurodegenerative conditions as well.
The research homes in on a particular protein known as Rbbp7, whose dysregulation appears linked to the eventual formation of tau protein tangles and the rampant cell death associated with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
