Nearly two dozen experimental therapies targeting the immune system are in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, a reflection of the growing recognition that immune processes play a key role in driving the brain damage that leads to confusion, memory loss and other debilitating symptoms. Many of the immunity-focused Alzheimer’s drugs under development are aimed at […]
The Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has ranked No. 1 in NIH funding among all neurology departments for the second year in a row. Department leadership would like to thank everyone in the department for their hard work and outstanding contributions to research over the years. The Blue […]
Eight physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been elected members of the newest class of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. They are being recognized for their original, creative and independent investigations in the clinical or allied sciences of medicine. The new members, who will be inducted April 21, are Megan […]
A growing pile of evidence indicates that the tens of trillions of microbes that normally live in our intestines — the so-called gut microbiome — have far-reaching effects on how our bodies function. Members of this microbial community produce vitamins, help us digest food, prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria and regulate the immune system, […]
A large study that focused on whether exercise and mindfulness training could boost cognitive function in older adults found no such improvement following either intervention. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California, San Diego, studied the cognitive effects of exercise, mindfulness training or both for up to […]
Amyloid plaques — protein clumps that are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease—occur at roughly the same level in the brains of people with Down syndrome who have Alzheimer’s as they do in people with forms of hereditary, early-onset Alzheimer’s, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Based on the largest […]
The cancer therapy known as CAR-T has revolutionized treatment of some blood cancers since it was introduced in 2017. The therapy uses genetically altered immune cells to home in on cancer cells and destroy them.
Biogen Inc. and Eisai Co. caused a stir in September when they announced positive results in a late-stage trial for a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug, lecanemab. Doctors tempered their excitement, though, until they could scrutinize the full peer-reviewed data. That data arrived Tuesday night. And while it is stoking enthusiasm that physicians might soon be able […]
Zooming in on a single disease and studying it intensely is often the most productive route to finding treatments. But there’s no easy way to distinguish among people living with any of the primary tauopathies — a group of rare brain diseases marked by rapidly worsening problems with thinking and movement — because the symptoms […]
ST. LOUIS — Joe knew something was terribly wrong when his wife, an energetic nurse and mother of three, became forgetful in her early 60s. Four years ago, Lynn was diagnosed with dementia but decided against having a spinal tap that would have shown whether the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.