Researchers at Harvard this week offered a new theory of Alzheimer’s Disease that – if true – would upend our understanding of the disease and suggest new routes for treatment and prevention.
The researchers think that the immune system may play a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s, which slowly robs people of their memory and is eventually fatal.
A protein called beta amyloid, long considered the bad actor in Alzheimer’s, actually plays a positive role in fighting off bacteria and fungus in mice, worms and cells, the researchers showed in a new paper in Science Translational Medicine.
Finish reading: Harvard researchers unveil new Alzheimer’s theory