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Discovery helps brain cells to clean themselves up to fight against Alzheimer's disease
Wednesday – 11 months Rabi II 1440 H – 19 December 2018 AD Number [
14631]
Cairo: Hazem Badr
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some neurons in the brain are protecting themselves from Alzheimer's disease thanks to a self-cleaning system that breaks down the toxic proteins associated with the disease, according to a joint US-UK study.
The disease causes toxic tau proteins, which eventually weaken and kill neurons. Researchers from Columbia and Ohio Universities in America and Cambridge, UK, discovered that more of this protein accumulated in certain types of weak neurons. because of their Cellular systems has lost the ability to clean.
Researchers have long known that degenerative neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease affect only certain cells, leaving intact nearby neurons, but the reasons for this selectivity were difficult to determine. The study published yesterday in the journal Nature, (Nature Neuroscience), to determine the responsibility of a protein called "BAG3" for this process.
In experiments on rats, the researchers manipulated the levels of this protein in the nerve cells of the rats: they found that when the cells were reduced, the toxic protein "Tao" accumulated and that, when they were improved, the nerve cells could get rid of this toxic protein.
"If we can develop treatments to support natural cleansing mechanisms to stop the accumulation of toxic Tau, we may be able to prevent or at least slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and prevent it from developing." other neurological diseases such as dementia, "says Karen Duff, a neuroscientist at Columbia University. .
According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, the number of people infected with the disease in the world represents about 50 million people and each year, 10 million new cases, which gives great value to this research in the case of a transition from the stage of laboratory tests to clinical trials, Dr. Abdullah, neurosurgeon and consultant to the Egyptian Ministry of Health.
"Until now, there is no treatment for this disease or a treatment that stops its evolutionary development, any achievement in this area is very useful," Abdullah told Asharq Al-Awsat.
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