Largest Alzheimer's Study on Protein Networks Reveals Possible New Biomarker

A study in Nature Medicine evaluated networks of more than 3,000 proteins to determine that the glucose metabolism of the brain's microglia and astrocytes could be a potential drug target and biomarker for Alzheimer's disease in spinal fluid tests, reports Being Patient . In the largest such study to date, the researchers analyzed proteins in more than 2,000 postmortem human brains and almost 400 cerebrospinal fluid samples of people with Alzheimer's, healthy subjects, and asymptomatic individuals with documented brain pathology. The proteins were classified into 13 categories, and sugar metabolisms of microglia and astrocytes accelerated in the brain samples and cerebrospinal fluid samples of persons with Alzheimer's and asymptomatic subjects with the disease. The implication of these findings is that astrocytes and microglia may ramp up their metabolisms to protect the brain against tangled beta amyloid proteins. The microglia also were associated with anti-inflammatory properties, but more research is needed to examine these cells in isolation. A better understanding of their function could enable the potential development of therapies that encourage the cells to generate more beneficial responses.