Amyloid-Plasma, Tau Tangles, and Neurologic Inflammation: What Are the Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease?

He thinks that younger people have the capacity to efficiently clear away these pathogen-laden amyloid-β cobwebs before they become problematic. He says that the disease is driven by the infection: amyloid plaques,tau tangles and neurological inflammation.

The Alzheimer’s field has not been fond of theories that do not deal with the signs of the disease, such as plaques and tangles. In the 1990s, Heneka explored the potential contribution of inflammatory processes. “You were just lucky when you weren’t beaten up by the amyloid-β or tau people if you would mention immunology,” he jokes.

Measuring the level of anti-viral blood particles is not ideal because they can be a symptom of other diseases. It is extremely difficult for a virus to be detected in brain-tissue samples. There are issues with the techniques for detecting viral particles in autopsy specimen that are pushing back against this research.

The latter hypothesis is favored by Tanzi. “Every time you have a vaccine, you amp up the peripheral immune system and monocytes get into the brain and help clear amyloid,” he says, referring to a subset of immune cells that help to fend off infectious agents and eliminate damaged cells.

There is indirect evidence that people who are injected with shingles are at a lower risk of dementia. Early studies that sought to establish such a connection were vulnerable to biases that made their results impossible to interpret confidently. People with more health motivation and interest in preventive care are more likely to get vaccination, says an epidemiologist at a California university.

Since then, he and others have made a compelling case for the association of Alzheimer’s with a strong inflammatory response that suppresses neuronal function and accelerates the formation of amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles. “Inflammatory mediators are present in the cerebrospinal fluid as soon as amyloid starts to accumulate in the brain,” says Gwenn Garden, a neurologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some of the inflammation is linked to early plaque formation, but lifestyle and environmental factors may also play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

Shingles arises after the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (VZV), which typically causes chickenpox early in life before becoming dormant for many decades. It is characterized by a painful skin rash and may be associated with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia.

Detecting Alzheimer’s Disease with Anti-Amyloid Treatment: A Perspective from Eli Lilly & Company at the New Era

It might be difficult to understand just how tough a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be for an individual and their family until you have experienced it personally. Sadly, too many of us will come to know the feeling well: there are around seven million new cases of Alzheimer’s every year.

The first therapy for Alzheimer’s targets the amyloid- in the brain. Cognitive decline can be slowed by clearing these deposits. The task now is to achieve stronger effects by building on anti-amyloid therapy or combining it with drugs that target other aspects of the disease.

Another major breakthrough of the past five years is the development of blood tests that can distinguish Alzheimer’s from other forms of dementia. Although such diagnostics look set to become crucial tools for physicians and researchers, there are already concerns over their potential misuse, including by consumers.

We would like to acknowledge Eli Lilly & Company for their support of the Outlook. As always, Nature retains sole responsibility for all editorial content.