Infectious Disease May Play a Role in Alzheimer’s disease
In This Article
- Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable and fatal disease characterized pathologically by the accumulation of insoluble amyloid protein brain deposits
- Groundbreaking new research suggests amyloid is deposited as an immune response that works to trap and neutralize invading pathogens
- Findings revealed the protein is a natural antibiotic and has since shown the protein’s antimicrobial actions result in the hallmark brain pathology that makes Alzheimer’s disease so distinct from other dementias
- Discoveries suggest microbes may play a key role in Alzheimer’s disease and are challenging longstanding views on how the disease originates
- Robert Moir, PhD, a neurobiologist whose research focus is the cause of dementia in patients with Alzheimer's disease at Massachusetts General Hospital, gave this talk at a TEDx event in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Over 50 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which is an incurable and fatal disease characterized pathologically by the accumulation of insoluble brain deposits called amyloid. In this TedX talk, Robert Moir, PhD, a neurobiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, shares groundbreaking new research that suggests amyloid is deposited as an immune response that works to trap and neutralize invading pathogens. This discovery also suggests infection may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease and is helping point the way towards urgently needed new treatment strategies.
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