Grappling with a rare disease whose variability is daunting, international cohort studies are charting the natural history of FTD. They have discovered biomarkers and honed physiological tests that underlie its behavioral symptoms.
The global platform trial for Alzheimer’s due to mutations in APP or presenilin will try to treat or prevent symptoms by deploying a therapeutic antibody that homes in on a piece of tau known to aggregate into neurofibrillary tangles.
International cohort studies reveal that the brain starts to shrink, and neural connections to crumble, many years before FTD symptoms arise. Where and when those changes occur depends on the offending mutation.
People with FTD wrestle with behavioral, cognitive, language, and motor impairments. Scientists are designing standardized tests that capture such symptoms.
At this year’s ICFTD meeting, researchers reviewed the lay of the land of current and planned trials for FTD, with glimpses of how the newly formed FTD Prevention Initiative seeks to coordinate treatment and prevention trials in the future.
As life expectancy increases in countries such as Nigeria, Brazil, China, and others, so does the number of people with dementia. How to provide modern care for them?
African Americans are likelier than non-Hispanic Caucasians to carry low-expression TREM2 variants, and less likely to carry a high-expression variant. As a result, they have less soluble TREM2 in their cerebrospinal fluid.
The first whole-genome manipulation of protein expression in neurons by CRISPR reveals a deadly chain of events. Bad processing by lysosomes leads to build-up of lipids and iron. Oxidative stress revs up. Neurons die by ferroptosis.