(Source: WSU) - A new study has uncovered an unexpected link between Alzheimer's disease and a protein whose absence causes a different neurological disease - Fragile X Syndrome. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers report that, in mice, the fragile X protein may play a role in the occurrence of the plaques and cell death found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. If research can confirm the findings in humans, it may offer new hope for a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
The telltale plaques of Alzheimer's disease contain remnants of dying cells and clumps of a small, sticky scrap of a protein called beta-amyloid. When the protein builds up in the brain, it can band together and wreak havoc inside neurons, damaging and ultimately killing them.
The researchers found that mice lacking the Fragile X protein had much higher levels of the toxic beta-amyloid in their brains.
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