tau protein news stories on Newser

Alzheimer’s Spreads From Cell to Cell

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:10:54 CST

Alzheimer’s disease spreads from brain cell to brain cell, like an infection—a discovery that could someday allow doctors to halt the disease in its tracks by blocking the cell-to-cell transmission. Two new studies in mice found that Alzheimer’s spreads like a virus, but it's not an actual virus that's...

Nose Exam Could Offer Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:15:16 CST

German scientists think they’ve found a new way to detect Alzheimer’s years before a patient starts showing symptoms … and it involves looking up your nose. Chemists and pathologists at the Technical University of Darmstadt are developing a method to test the nasal mucous membrane for tau protein, which kills...

New Test Predicts Alzheimer’s

M. Morris — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:15:08 CDT

The presence of certain biomarkers in spinal fluid can predict the development of Alzheimer's disease, even in patients who display no symptoms, according to breakthrough research being published tomorrow. "This is what everyone is looking for, the bull’s eye of perfect predictive accuracy," a doctor not connected with the study...

'Rogue' Protein Spread Key to Alzheimer's

Matt Cantor — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:29:00 CDT

A protein linked to Alzheimer’s can run amok in the brain, affecting healthy tissue, scientists have found. All nerve cells contain the tau protein, but a “rogue form” can lead to protein clumps in cells, called neurofibrillary tangles, that are believed to play a major role in Alzheimer’s disease, the...