Scientists discover how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s

 It has been a mystery and a source of scientific debate for decades. But the team, writing in the journal Science, connect the abnormal proteins that build up in the brain with "necroptosis" - a form of cellular suicide. The findings have been described as "cool" and "exciting", as they give new ideas for treating the disease. It is the loss of brain cells, called neurons, that lead to the symptoms of Alzheimer's, including memory loss. And if you look inside the brains of people with the disease you'd see the build-up of abnormal proteins called amyloid and tau. But scientists have not been able to join the dots between these key traits of the disease. This is what the researchers - at the UK's Dementia Research Institute at University College London and KU Leuven in Belgium - now think is happening. Read more...

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