New research finds potential cause of Alzheimer’s disease

A recent study from researchers at UC Riverside offers intriguing data that could lead to a better understanding of what causes Alzheimer’s disease.

Plaques and tangles in the brain have been a focus of Alzheimer’s researchers and some believe ridding the brain of the buildup will help in treating the disease. Approximately 20 percent of people have plaques detected in the brain, but do not develop dementia, prompting researchers to do a deeper investigation of the tau protein. Their results suggest that a specific presentation of the protein was linked to the development of dementia. The body has an automatic mechanism called autophagy to clear defective proteins from cells, but that process slows as we age, especially for those over the age of 65.

The researchers described the defective tau protein as “trying to put a right-handed glove on your left hand.”

If their preliminary research proves to be correct, there are drugs being tested to improve the autophagy process, which could potentially be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.