Study Suggests Treatments that Unleash Immune Cells in the Brain Could Help Combat Alzheimers

April 25, 2024byDr. Monica M. Bertagnolli

In Alzheimers disease, a buildup of stickyamyloid proteinsin the brain clump together to form plaques, causing damage thatgradually leadsto worsening dementia symptoms. A promising way to change the course of this disease is with treatments that clear away damaging amyloid plaques or stop them from forming in the first place. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first drug for early Alzheimers that moderately slows cognitive decline by reducing amyloid plaques. Still, more progress is needed to combat this devastating disease that as many as6.7 million Americanswere living with in 2023.

Recent findings from a study in mice, supported in part by NIH and reported inScience Translational Medicine, offer another potential way to clear amyloid plaques in the brain. The key component of this strategy is using the brains built-in cleanup crew for amyloid plaques and other waste products: immune cells known as microglia that naturally help to limit the progression of Alzheimers. The findings suggest it may be possible to develop immunotherapiestreatments that use the bodys immune system to fight diseaseto activate microglia in the brains of people with Alzheimers and clear amyloid plaques more effectively.