| ■ Clearance of Damaging Proteins Slower in Alzheimer's Patients | 2010.12.10 |
| Alzheimer's disease patients clear the damaging beta-amyloid protein from their brains 30 percent slower than people without the disease, finds a new study. It was already known that this protein accumulated in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. This U.S. study of 12 Alzheimer's patients and 12 people without the disease suggests it is the slow clearance of beta-amyloid, not the build-up, that is the problem, BBC News reported. It may be possible to develop a test to measure beta-amyloid clearance rates to detect Alzheimer's before symptoms appear, and to create drugs that assist the clearance process, said the researchers at the University of Medicine in St. Louis. The study appears in the journal Science. |