Alzheimer trigger may be toxic remnants of infection
Research by a Harvard Medical School team has put forward a hypothesis that Alzheimer disease could be due to the toxic remnants of the brain’s attempt to fight off infections.
This could explain the origins of plaque, the mysterious hard little balls that pockmark the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine has major implications for preventing and treating this degenerative brain disease.
Not everyone who has had a brain infection will end up having Alzheimer’s, though. Some are more vulnerable than others.
According to the new theory , it probably has to do with the brain’s ability to clear out beta amyloid after they have killed microbes.
For example, people with ApoE2 gene have brains that are good at removing out the plaque, and have a low risk of Alzheimer’s. Those with a ApoE4 gene have a high risk of Alzheimer’s.
It is all about the genes a person carries.
