Toxic Particles in the Brain Which Cause Dementia by Destroying Healthy Tissue Could Be Detected by a New Antibody

Researchers from Cambridge University, University College London, and Sweden's Lund University have designed an antibody for detecting toxic amyloid-beta oligomers in the brain, which induce dementia by killing healthy tissue, reports the Daily Mail . A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this antibody could lead to the development of new diagnostic treatments to detect and contain Alzheimer's disease early on. The difficulty of spotting amyloid-beta oligomers due to their heterogeneity has led to differing views on the causes of Alzheimer's, said Cambridge Professor Michele Vendruscolo. "The discovery of an antibody to accurately target oligomers is, therefore, an important step to monitor the progression of the disease, identify its cause, and eventually keep it under control," he added. The researchers targeted specific regions of the proteins in order to generate an antibody that was three times better at detecting them than earlier attempts.