Biogen Asks FDA To Approve Aducanumab
New drug application is first for Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. since 2003, and first based on amyloid hypothesis.
NEWS
With IL-33, Neurons Tempt Microglia to Nibble At Synapses
Released from hippocampal neurons in response to experience, the cytokine prompted microglia to eat extracellular matrix around synapses. This facilitated growth of new spines, and sharpened memory.
Blood-Brain Barrier Surprise: Proteins Flood into Young Brain
As mice age, a busy receptor-mediated protein transport across the barrier wanes; inhibiting an alkaline phosphatase restores it. Meanwhile, the aging barrier becomes generally leaky to large molecules.
Women and Men Differ in Their Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s Progression
Sex-specific polygenic hazard scores predict pathology and cognitive decline.
Does a Stimulating Childhood Stem Amyloid Plaques in Golden Years?
Cognitive enrichment in early life correlated with less Alzheimer’s pathology, and slower cognitive decline, in late life.
RBFOX1 Gene Tied to Amyloidosis in Preclinical Alzheimer’s
Researchers used PET scans from 4,000 people to link RBFOX1 risk variants to amyloidosis. People with lower RBFOX1 expression in their brains had more amyloid and worse cognition.
Too Phatal: How Microglia, Astrocytes Snuff Out Dying Neurons
Live imaging of mouse brain reveals that microglia quickly engulf cell bodies while astrocytes dispose of the neuron’s more distal reaches. The cleanup crew tires with age.
In Mice, Activating TREM2 Tempers Plaque Toxicity, not Load
Alector’s AL002c antibody mobilizes microglia, reduces neuronal dystrophy, and restores normal behavior—all in mice. The clinical version is in Phase 1.
Virtual Exhibit Hall
Alzforum encourages users to visit the Virtual Exhibit Hall, where companies showcase their newest initiatives, products, and services. We welcome F. Hoffmann-La Roche, joining our other exhibitors — Biogen, BioLegend, Dash Genomics, Inc., Abcam, BrainXell, and the Jackson Laboratory.
SPOTLIGHT
Blood-Brain Barrier Surprise: Proteins Flood into Young Brain
Here’s a twist: More protein enters young brains than old. In this week’s Nature, researchers describe robust receptor-mediated uptake of plasma proteins in young mice. It’s a perfectly healthy thing. It also falls off steeply with age, but inhibition of a single phosphatase restored brain entry to youthful levels. Could this finding help pharmaceutical strategies to smuggle drugs into aged brains via the transferrin receptor?
The Undertakers: How Microglia, Astrocytes Handle Dying Neurons
It turns out astrocytes aren’t just backup players when it comes to phagocytosis—they have their own job. When researchers triggered cell death in single neurons of living mice, astrocytes gobbled up the degenerating dendritic arbor, while microglia tucked into the soma and proximal dendrites. The two cell types coordinated their actions and respected each other’s territory, like any good team. In aging brain, however, this cleanup crew loses steam.
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