Neurodegenerative Diseases News and Research

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Tough protein connects directly with neurons to cause damaging inflammatory reaction in the brain

Neuroinflammatory diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and traumatic brain injury, have been linked to deposits of a tough protein known as fibrin, derived from the blood clotting factor fibrinogen.

9 Nov 2021

Multiple sclerosis drug improves memory in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Losing memory is a hallmark of Alzheimer's, a symptom of the disease that depletes a patient's quality of life. Improving memory and slowing cognitive changes caused by the disease is an ongoing challenge for researchers seeking to develop novel therapies.

8 Nov 2021

Immune cell patterns can help predict kidney cancer patients' response to immunotherapy

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and UCL have found immune cell patterns within tumors that can help predict if patients with kidney cancer will respond to immunotherapy.

29 Oct 2021

'Mini brains' allow researchers to study a fatal, untreatable neurological disorder

Cambridge researchers have developed 'mini brains' that allow them to study a fatal and untreatable neurological disorder causing paralysis and dementia – and for the first time have been able to grow these for almost a year.

22 Oct 2021

Viral diseases likely to contribute to neurodegeneration, says study

Scientists from DZNE revealed that certain viral diseases can contribute to neurodegeneration.

21 Oct 2021

Research illustrates the complex mechanism of bacterial innate immunity

Recent research anticipates utilizing newly characterized defense systems in bacteria to match changes to the human genome.

From Durham University 21 Oct 2021

Brain immune cells take up large amounts of sugar at the beginning of neurodegenerative disease

At the beginning of neurodegenerative disease, the immune cells of the brain – the "microglia" – take up glucose, a sugar molecule, to a much greater extent than hitherto assumed.

18 Oct 2021

Oral diuretic pill may potentially be repurposed to treat Alzheimer's in people with genetic risk

A commonly available oral diuretic pill approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration may be a potential candidate for an Alzheimer's disease treatment for those who are at genetic risk, according to findings published in Nature Aging.

12 Oct 2021

Ketone supplement may be a new therapeutic strategy for enhancing brain health in adults with obesity

New research published in The Journal of Physiology has shown that ketone supplements may be a novel therapeutic strategy for protecting and improving brain health in people with obesity.

5 Oct 2021

Exploring cell and gene based therapies for Parkinson’s disease

After several decades of pre-clinical development, cell- and gene-based therapies for Parkinson's disease (PD) are now actively being explored. In this special supplement to the Journal of Parkinson's Disease on "Repairing the Parkinsonian Brain," experts highlight some of the current strategies being pursued to restore lost function and replace what is lost in the PD brain, with special emphasis on the challenges associated with translating advanced therapeutic approaches into pioneering clinical trials.

24 Sep 2021

Microglial cells join together to break down toxic proteins more quickly

To break down toxic proteins more quickly, immune cells in the brain can join together to form networks when needed. This is shown by a joint study of the University of Bonn, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, and the Institut François Jacob in France.

23 Sep 2021

Study identifies vital factor involved in the evolution of the human brain

Humans have a huge and intricately folded neocortex, the reason for various intellectual abilities, setting apart humans from all other species.

17 Sep 2021

Bacteria-derived curli amyloid fibril promotes neurodegeneration in the host

Increasing evidence points to the fact that gut microbiota performs a vital role in regulating the advancement of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

9 Sep 2021

Experts decode the genetic mechanism governing the speed of mRNA translation

The genetic material of all eukaryotic organisms is stored in the cell nucleus in the form of DNA. The DNA is first transcribed into messenger RNA in the cell cytoplasm and later translated into protein using ribosomes for it to be used, where ribosomes are small machines capable of decoding messenger RNA to synthesize the relevant proteins.

1 Sep 2021

NYU Tandon professors show broad therapeutic potential of novel peptide to combat multiple diseases

NYU Tandon professors Mary Cowman and Jin Ryoun Kim recently published a paper describing a novel peptide with broad therapeutic potential to combat chronic inflammation in multiple diseases.

From New York University (NYU) 31 Aug 2021

Study unravels new aspects of prions causing untreatable neurodegenerative conditions

A new study achieved the highest-ever resolution imaging of an infectious prion, offering atomic-level data of how these abnormal proteins assemble.

25 Aug 2021

Study identifies C9orf72 repeat expansion using novel genetic marker

Research offers a new genetic tool to pinpoint C9orf72 repeat expansion-carrying frontotemporal lobar degeneration from huge population-based cohorts.

25 Aug 2021

New mouse line reveals the state of proteostasis in mammalian brain for the first time

Proteins are the "tools" of our cells – they are essential to all vital tasks. However, they are only able to do their jobs if they fold correctly and adopt their respective, very specific 3D structure.

20 Aug 2021

Novel genome-editing technology to mitigate Alzheimer’s disease

Around 500,000 patients in China alone are considered to be living with a hereditary form of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

19 Aug 2021

Novel technique quantifies protein droplets involved in neurodegenerative diseases

Some proteins in cells can separate into small droplets like oil droplets in water, but faults in this process may underlie neurodegenerative diseases in the brains of older people. Now, Rutgers researchers have developed a new method to quantify protein droplets involved in these diseases.

16 Aug 2021