In a study done by NYU Langone Healthy and the School of Medicine, researchers learned more about the types of proteins that cause the tangles in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that affects the “memory, thinking, and behavior” of the over 5 million Americans who have it, according the the Alzheimer’s Association. The researchers tested tissue sample of 12 subjects with the disease looking for tau knots to “[examine] the bundles to identify the many proteins tangled within”.
Shown is the tangles that are found in and contribute to Alzheimer’s disease
You might be wondering, what is a tau knot? A tau is a protein that exists mostly in nerves that has the objective of stabilizing microtubules. When this protein is defective, it can become tangled with other molecules which leaders to Alzheimer’s disease.
Although neuroscientists already knew that tau tangles can cause neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia, they did not know many of the proteins that cause these dangerous knots. After analyzing the brain tissue, the researchers “found 12 proteins that they say have not before been tied to both tau and Alzheimer’s disease.” These knots were made up of 542 different proteins including those involved in the most essential processes of the cell like “energy production”, “the reading of genetic material”, “and cell breakdown and digestion.” These proteins that work to produce ATP and RNA in the processes of cell respiration and gene transcription (which are necessary parts of cell function); these important proteins are involved in the knotting. It is crazy that along with their existence comes the possibility of them destroying all they have created.
Despite the sad nature of this research, this new information comes along with hope for those suffering from this debilitating illness. According to co-lead author Geoffrey Pires, “Now that we have better insight into possible ‘key players’ in neurodegeneration, we may have clearer targets for potential therapies.” As these researchers gain more and more information, they gain a better understanding of Alzheimer’s and in turn, other similar “tau-linked neurodegenerative diseases, such as Pick’s disease.”
I feel Alzheimer’s is an essential disease to learn more about not only because it is incurable and unpreventable, but because 4 members of my own family have suffered from it. As the study’s senior author Thomas Wisniewski said “Alzheimer’s has been studied for over a century, so it is eye opening that we are still uncovering dozens of proteins that we had no idea are associated with the disease.” It is wild to think that something so common and well known, still has so many mysteries to it and that makes it immensely more fascinating and important to learn about.
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