Columbia University Irving Medical Center
A new idea for treating Alzheimer’s disease could eradicate the toxic proteins most closely linked to cognitive decline in the places where they do the most damage, a study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggests.
The study was published online in Science Translational Medicine on May 26.
Early in Alzheimer’s disease, toxic tau proteins accumulate inside the brain’s synapses, compromising the transmission of signals from one neuron to another. Cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s is closely linked to tau: the more tau that accrues, the faster cognition deteriorates.