Frontotemporal Dementia News and Research

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Astrocyte Receptor Effects Differ Dramatically Between Sexes

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have uncovered the first evidence that astrocyte receptors can trigger opposite effects on cognitive function in male and female preclinical models.

31 May 2024

New Biomarker Offers Early Detection of ALS and FTD

Two progressively degenerative diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD, recently in the news with the diagnoses of actor Bruce Willis and talk show host Wendy Williams), are linked by more than the fact that they both damage nerve cells critical to normal functioning -; the former affecting nerves in the brain and spinal cord leading to loss of movement, the latter eroding the brain regions controlling personality, behavior and language.

19 Mar 2024

Breaking Down the Complex Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration

By using a novel neuronal cell culture model, researchers at the University of Zurich have illuminated the complex mechanisms behind neurodegeneration.

23 Feb 2024

Misfolded Proteins: How They Damage Neurons and Cause Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the deposition of clumped proteins in the brain and progressive neuronal cell death.

5 Dec 2023

Viral Proteins Promote the Spread of Protein Aggregates in the Brain

Viral genetic remnants found naturally in the human genome may influence the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

22 Aug 2023

Review: Role of Alternative Splicing Defects in Major Neurodegenerative Diseases

Alternative splicing, a clever way a cell generates many different variations of messenger RNAs -; single-stranded RNAs involved in protein synthesis -; and proteins from the same stretch of DNA, plays an important role in molecular biology.

21 Jun 2023

Patients With Motor Neuron Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia Carry the Same Genetic Defects

New research has discovered that some patients with motor neuron disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) carry the same rare genetic defects that cause other neurodegenerative diseases.

10 May 2023

Abnormal Immune Activity in Astrocytes Causes Dementia-Related Cognitive Deficits

People with dementia have protein build-up in astrocytes that may trigger abnormal antiviral activity and memory loss, according to a preclinical study by a team of Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

21 Apr 2023

New Peptide Blocks a Hyperactive Brain Enzyme Involved in Neurodegeneration

MIT neuroscientists have found a way to reverse neurodegeneration and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by interfering with an enzyme that is typically overactive in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

17 Apr 2023

DNA drugs help restore the normal processing of protein-encoding RNA

A protein named TDP-43 has been lost from its normal location in the nucleus of the cell in virtually all persons having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in up to half of all cases of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

From UC San Diego 20 Mar 2023

Delaying paralysis in ALS by using designer DNA drug

In virtually all persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in up to half of all cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia, a protein called TDP-43 is lost from its normal location in the nucleus of the cell.

20 Mar 2023

Novel way to block the death of nerve cells in MND

Scientists have found a novel way to block the transportation of mutant RNA and subsequent production of toxic repeat proteins which lead to the death of nerve cells in the most common subtypes of motor neurone disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

2 Mar 2023

RNA modification plays a vital role in TDP-43-related neurodegeneration in ALS

Nearly 100% of cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-the progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease known as ALS or Lou Gherig's disease-involve the buildup of a protein called TDP-43.

28 Feb 2023

Scientists discover two ways to preserve diseased upper motor neurons in ALS

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered two ways to preserve diseased upper motor neurons that would normally be destroyed in ALS, based on a study in mice. Upper motor neurons initiate movement, and they degenerate in ALS.

24 Feb 2023

WashU researcher receives NIH grant to study a poorly understood protein linked to ALS

The relentless neurological disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) eventually shuts down the entire body, but the devastation starts at a molecular level.

14 Feb 2023

RNA-targeting strategy to repair the genetic cause of ALS and dementia

Researchers at UF Scripps Biomedical Research have created a potential treatment for a major factor in the development of ALS and dementia that functions by removing disease-causing RNA segments.

24 Nov 2022

Researchers get funding to develop a vaccine against ALS disease

DZNE and Intravacc B.V., have received a grant from the European Union of € 2.5 million to further create a prototype ALS vaccine.

8 Jul 2022

Researchers analyze single-cell DNA sequencing for having a significant role in Alzheimer’s disease

The loss of functional neurons in the brain is a characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. What, on the other hand, is the source of this loss?

21 Apr 2022

Critical signaling pathways in immune cells could reduce Alzheimer’s progression

According to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers, inhibiting a critical signaling route in brain-resident immune cells may reduce brain inflammation and hence halt the progression of the disease in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders.

15 Apr 2022

Novel molecular pathway shared by ALS and frontotemporal dementia identified

Scientists from two independent research teams have discovered how the mislocalization of a protein, known as TDP-43, alters the genetic instructions for UNC13A, providing a possible therapeutic target that could also have implications in treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and other forms of dementia.

1 Mar 2022