University of Haifa Study Links Alzheimer’s to Protein Regulation in Brain

Researchers have found a link between Alzheimer’s disease and the activity level of a protein called eIF2alpha, according to a study done at the University of Haifa’s Sagol Department of Neurobiology. Professor Kobi Rosenblum, head of the department, says that altering the performance of this protein via drug therapy could constitute a treatment for Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s research in recent years has primarily focused on battling the disease once symptoms have appeared, even though it’s known that the disease nests in the brain many years before any symptoms are revealed. In advanced stages of the disease, Rosenblum explains, small lumps (called plaques) can be identified forming in the brain from a protein called amyloid. These plaques, he says, are typical of Alzheimer’s sufferers and undermine brain functioning. Much research has been directed at understanding these plaques and trying to eliminate them or restrict their formation and growth.

Study results appear in the journal Neurobiology of Aging. For more information, click here to read the full release.