Cell Division Makes Alzheimer Mystery Add Up
Professor David J. Demko
When it comes to Alzheimer's research, "Cleveland rocks". Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) holds a critcal new piece to the Alzheimer's puzzle. That research explains this dreaded disease in a whole new light, and opens the door for development of innovative therapies.
CWRU researchers believe that nerve cell death in Alzheimer's disease is caused by a failed attempt at cell division. They have found a significant number of brain cells in Alzheimer's patients with extra copies of chromosomes, showing attempts at cell division in cells that are not supposed to divide. This effort to divide is the likely cause of the nerve degeneration and dementia in Alzheimer's disease.
"It's almost as if Alzheimer's disease were a novel form of cancer," says Karl Herrup, PhD. Dr. Herrup along with other researchers from Case Western Reserve University have published the findings in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell division. In this study, scientists found that unorthodox cell division is the likely cause of the nerve cell destruction.
According to Herrup, memory loss in Alzheimer's is always associated with the accumulation of senile plaques and neuro-fibral tangles. However, these accumulations are considered to be associated with, but not the cause of, Alzheimer's. Memory loss is more closely tied to nerve cell death. This new research provides the missing link explaining how the accumulation leads to nerve cell death.
"We know now almost precisely where the cell is stopped in the division process and we know something even more important." Herrup goes on to explain that "since the cell hasn't divided it is sitting with twice as much DNA as it should have." That cell condition, concludes Herrup, "is the root cause of the nerve cell death."
What's next? Scientists do not know what triggers the cells to begin to divide. The researchers at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Yan Yang and Dr. David S. Geldmacher, speculate that the plaques in brain cell tissue may trigger an inflammatory response in the brain. That response introduces proteins that trigger the unwanted cell division. Herrup says these findings open the door to development of therapeutics that might prevent the cells from dividing.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
New Genetic Risk Factor for Alzheimer's
Brain Gymnastics Help Avoid Alzheimer's
Enzyme Linked to Brain Functioning in Alzheimer's
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
AgeVenture News Service, 21946 Pine Trace, Boca Raton, FL 33428 USA
Dr. David Demko, Editor
E-mail:newsdesk@demko.com
See the "Permission to Reprint" policy on the AgeVenture homepage.