Q.  Have there been any advances in figuring out a treatment for Alzheimer’s?

 

A. Interesting that you should ask. In January of this year, the report of a research project was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The researchers removed Alzheimer’s-related protein tangles in mouse brains. They were able to decrease levels of BACE 1, a key brain enzyme, which reduced the levels of amyloid plaques. Naturally, this raises hopes of a treatment to combat Alzheimer’s in human brains. Apparently this is the first time that a group of scientists were able to achieve this. You may want to check out the Abstract yourself at http://dx.doi.org/10.1084/jem.20171831.