Peter Davies, Beloved Giant of Alzheimer’s Disease Research, Dies at 72
In a career spanning four decades, Davies spearheaded the cholinergic hypothesis, unlocked secrets of tau, and readily shared antibodies in the field.
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In a career spanning four decades, Davies spearheaded the cholinergic hypothesis, unlocked secrets of tau, and readily shared antibodies in the field.
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.
After shutting down a Phase 3 program last March, Biogen now says the futility analysis it did was incorrect, and that a new analysis of a larger dataset in fact supports filing for FDA marketing approval next year.
DIAN, Roche, Lilly disclose that neither gantenerumab nor solanezumab slowed cognitive decline in the first-pass comparison of drug and placebo groups. Analyses are ongoing; dose may have been too low.
A panel of experts concludes the evidence for this scary prospect is weak, but recommends neurosurgeons use separate neurosurgical instruments for young and old patients. The experts called for further studies.
Researchers implicate PrP in the toxicity of Aβ, tau, and α-synuclein oligomers in several neurodegenerative diseases.
GV-971, an oligosaccharide derived from marine kelp, was approved to treat AD in China. Preclinical studies suggest the drug soothes neuroinflammation by balancing the gut microbiome.
Researchers link age-related weakening of the barrier to TGFβ signaling, hyperexcitation, and cognitive problems. In rodents, TGFβ antagonists attenuate these effects, reducing seizures.
Acting downstream of TREM2, PLCγ2 facilitates phagocytic microglial behavior such as lipid processing. PLCγ2 also acts downstream of toll-like receptors, where it can throw a switch to inflammation.
Cognitive enrichment in early life correlated with less Alzheimer’s pathology, and slower cognitive decline, in late life.
A postmortem study found that people who had more aggregation-prone, hyperphosphorylated, oligomeric forms of tau in their brains also had a more aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease during life. Will we personalize tauopathy care like cancer care?
Researchers induced cortical organoids to grow their own vasculature and even form a blood-“brain” barrier, making the little blobs more useful for studying disease.
Middle-aged WTC responders have cognitive problems, which correlate not only with their PTSD symptoms and exposure to toxic dust, but also with biomarkers of amyloid and tau.
In the human brain, alpha waves fell out of sync, while delta-theta waves swelled in concert with amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles. Alpha modulation correlated with cognitive decline.
In female mice it’s the other X chromosome, not lack of a Y, that extends life and preserves memory in the face of amyloidosis. A histone demethylase gene partly explains this. It protects people, too.