PHILADELPHIA: A major scientific breakthrough has caused researchers to hypothesise that Alzheimer’s disease starts when the brain believes it is under threat from bacteria and viruses.
A protein called beta-amyloid linked to Alzheimer’s disease could help people fight dangerous infections, according to new research. But a new study provides strong evidence that beta-amyloid is also part of the innate immune system, the body’s first line of defence against bacteria, viruses and parasites.
Beta-amyloid forms sticky clumps, or ‘plaques’, in the brain that are one of the key ways of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists found that human beta-amyloid (A-beta) protected against lethal infections in mice, laboratory worms and cultured human brain cells…