Saving Brain Connections by Targeting Synaptic Proteins May Treat Alzheimer’s, Study Finds

Proteins in nerve cell synapses, which transmit signals between neurons, are abnormal in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Swedish researchers concluded after performing a large-scale analysis of synaptic proteins in patients’ brains.

By studying these flaws, researchers could distinguish between Alzheimer’s patients and those with Parkinson’s disease dementia.

A loss of synapses is tightly linked to cognitive decline in dementia. Therefore, the research team at Karolinska Institutet thinks that it may be possible to design treatments that prevent this loss by targeting the identified proteins — thereby preventing or slowing cognitive loss.

Their study, “Synaptic markers of cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases: a proteomic approach,” appeared in the journal Brain. It included 32 patients who had died from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease with dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies, as well as older adults without dementia.

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Written by Magdalena Kegel for alzheimersnewstoday.com