Genetic engineering ‘vacuums’ Alzheimer plaque

A group of Yale University researchers theorized that genetic engineering used to block an immune response in cells outside the brain would accelerate the progress of Alzheimer's disease by spurring inflammation. Instead, they said, an animal study showed that the process eliminated as much as 90 percent of the amyloid plaque associated with the memory-wasting disease. "It was like a vacuum cleaner had removed the plaques." And they say there's good reason to believe that the same results will be seen in humans, paving the way to a new therapeutic approach to treat Alzheimer's.

"If results from our study in mice engineered to develop Alzheimer's-like dementia are supported by studies in humans, we may be able to develop a drug that could be introduced into the bloodstream to cause peripheral immune cells to target the amyloid plaques," said Dr Terence Town.

- read the article from the BBC

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