For people with Parkinson’s, carrying Alzheimer’s genetic risk variants upped their odds of harboring Aβ and tau pathology and getting dementia. In people with DLB, Aβ plaques worsened tau and Lewy pathology, and cognition.
Scientists report at AAT-AD/PD that they tightened a causal connection between gut microbes, microglial function, and protein deposits. In mice, that is.
In people with Alzheimer’s biomarkers, the basal forebrain shrinks early, foreshadowing microglial neurotoxicity, atrophy in the medial temporal lobe, and cognitive decline.
Researchers at the online AAT-AD/PD meeting touted therapies that target neuroinflammation, synapses, epigenetic regulation, or the cortisol stress response.
New Assay, New Cohorts—Plasma p-Tau181 Looks Even Better 217—The Best Phospho-Tau Marker for Alzheimer’s? In DIAN-TU, Gantenerumab Brings Down Tau. By a Lot. Open Extension Planned Confused About the DIAN-TU Trial Data? Experts Discuss Active Tau Vaccine:
The AAT-AD/PD conference hosted a virtual conversation about what the trial’s disappointing cognitive and tantalizing biomarker data might mean. Hidden between thank you’s and pledges to stay committed were substantive points of debate and context.
Data shown at AAT-AD/PD explain why the DIAN-TU trial missed its primary endpoint. But gantenerumab strongly reduced plaques, tau, phospho-tau, and slowed NfL. This result prompted an open-label extension, sustaining hope for efficacy.
Two papers report that phosphorylated tau in the blood distinguishes people with AD from healthy controls and from people with frontotemporal and vascular dementias.
From caregivers going it alone to understaffed nursing homes on lockdown, people with neurodegenerative disease and their caregivers are feeling enormous strain from the novel coronavirus. They are adapting to the new normal with technology.
Most observational cohorts are on pause, and many clinical trials have stopped dosing. The long-term effects on the integrity of AD studies are unclear.