Alzheimer's Transmission Pathway Discovered 154
smitty777 writes "Two separate studies by the Taub Institute and Harvard have discovered the pathway used by Alzheimer's Disease to spread through the brain. The studies indicate it's not a virus, but a distorted protein called Tau which moves from cell to cell. Further, the discovery 'may now offer scientists a way to move forward and develop a way to block tau's spread in Alzheimer's patients, said Karen Duff, a researcher at Columbia's Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's disease and co-author of one study published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One. "It's enlightening for us because it now provides a whole other area for potential therapeutic impact," said Duff. "It's possible that you can identify the disease and intervene (with potential tau-blocking drugs) before the dementia actually sets in."'"
Does this mean? (Score:5, Funny)
I, for one.. (Score:2, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our.. I, for one, welcome..
Re:Does this mean? (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps this is what makes soylent green so delicious? If so, then I consider it an acceptable risk.
Tau (Score:5, Funny)
Xenoflesh in the human brain? Clearly the apothecaries have failed in purging this scum from our fellow men. The only solution is Exterminatus. The Emperor Protects!
Sure, it all starts well and good... (Score:4, Funny)
but next thing you know you're in a helicopter, shooting monkeys off the Golden Gate Bridge with a machine gun.
Re:Does this mean? (Score:2, Funny)
I've never heard of anything to suggest that Alzheimers can be "caught." A seminar I saw a few years ago on tau suggested that in order to form these aggregates of tau, you need to have a mutated form of it: normal tau does not start clumping up and killing brain cells (not entirely sure I'm remembering that correctly).
Uh-oh! You better get tested for Tau proteins right away...