Antibody removes Alzheimer’s plaques, in mice (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
Antibodies against APOE (red) bind to amyloid plaques (blue) in brain tissue from people with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have found that the antibody can sweep away the damaging plaques, at least in mice, which could lead to a therapy for the devastating disease.

Years before people start showing characteristic symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, sticky plaques begin forming in their brains, damaging nearby cells. For decades, doctors have sought ways to clear out these plaques as a way to prevent or treat the disease.

Alzheimer’s blood test detects disease decades before symptoms, aiding drug search

By Katherine •
Getty Images A woman with Alzheimer's performs a memory exercise in a nursing home.

Alzheimer’s remains a deadly and incurable disease that affects 5.5 million Americans. It is one of the greatest threats to the solvency of Medicare. New blood tests can identify patients up to 20 years before physical symptoms. This could prove crucial in developing preventative treatments. Published 10:00 AM ET Mon, 5 March 2018 Updated 10:25 […]

Body clock disruptions occur years before memory loss in Alzheimer’s (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
People with Alzheimer’s disease have disturbances in their internal body clocks that affect the sleep/wake cycle and may increase risk of developing the disorder. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that such circadian rhythm disruptions also occur much earlier in people whose memories are intact but whose brain scans show early, preclinical evidence of Alzheimer’s.

People with Alzheimer’s disease are known to have disturbances in their internal body clocks that affect the sleep/wake cycle and may increase risk of developing the disorder. Now, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that such circadian rhythm disruptions also occur much earlier in people whose memories are intact […]

Major Alzheimer’s study aims to predict who will develop the disease (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
John C. Morris, MD (right), director of the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, examines a patient at the center. A long-term study of adult children of Alzheimer’s patients – led by the School of Medicine – aims to define who is likely to develop the disease and when, and to establish a timeline for how quickly the disease will progress.

Adults with an aging parent diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease are at elevated risk of developing the disease themselves. But doctors still don’t know enough yet to predict which of these adult children will go on to develop Alzheimer’s. Nor can they predict at what age the characteristic symptoms of memory loss and confusion will appear.

Lack of sleep boosts levels of Alzheimer’s proteins (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
Chronic poor sleep has been linked to cognitive decline. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that a sleepless night causes levels of the Alzheimer's protein amyloid beta to rise faster than the brain's waste-disposal system can remove it. Persistently high levels of the protein can set off a cascade of brain changes leading to dementia.

Have you resolved to take better care of yourself in the new year? Here’s a relatively painless way to do it: Catch a few more zzz’s every night. A third of American adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Medical School faculty named to National Academy of Inventors (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis professors Samuel Achilefu, PhD, David Holtzman, MD, and Eric Leuthardt, MD (left to right, above) have been elected to the National Academy of Inventors.

Noted innovators Samuel Achilefu, PhD, David Holtzman, MD, and Eric Leuthardt, MD – faculty members at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The 2017 class of NAI fellows was announced Tuesday.

Alzheimer’s gene poses both risk — and benefits (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
Immune cells are more activated (red) in the brains of mice with the gene TREM2 (left) than in those without the gene (right). A new study shows that having a working copy of the gene TREM2 can reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease under certain conditions but worsen disease in others.

Scientists drilling down to the molecular roots of Alzheimer’s disease have encountered a good news/bad news scenario. A major player is a gene called TREM2, mutations of which can substantially raise a person’s risk of the disease. The bad news is that in the early stages of the disease, high-risk TREM2 variants can hobble the immune system’s ability to […]