Discovery Could Explain Failed Clinical Trials for Alzheimer's, and Provide a Solution

Researchers have discovered a feedback loop underlying brain degeneration in Alzheimer's disease that may explain why so many drug trials have failed, according to a study published in Translational Psychiatry and cited by Medical Xpress . The study also identifies a clinically approved drug which breaks the cycle and protects against memory-loss in animal models of Alzheimer's. Overproduction of the protein beta-amyloid is strongly linked to development of Alzheimer's disease but many drugs targeting beta-amyloid have failed in clinical trials. Beta-amyloid attacks and destroys synapses—the connections between nerve cells in the brain—resulting in memory problems, dementia and ultimately death. In the new study, researchers found that when beta-amyloid destroys a synapse, the nerve cells make more beta-amyloid driving yet more synapses to be destroyed.