Cognitive Labs

The role of collagens in muscle, cartilage, and skin are well understood. Now, researchers from the Gladstone Institute, Stanford, and UCSF have found that collagen VI can protect against amyloid-beta protein accumulation, one of the causative factors, and often observed affiliated conditions, for the start of Alzheimer's Disease.

It appears that neurons in the AD-prone brain of mice constitute a collagen factory, fabricating the substance which impacts changes in gene expression. Scientists led by Dr. Lennart Mucke and Dr. Jason Cheng led the research, which included participation from Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford and Paolo Bonaldo at University of Padova, Italy. Amyloid appears to attach itself to neurons via the action of small toxic assemblies called oligomers.

However, neurons under threat from Alzheimer's secrete collagen VI, which blocks the adhesion of the amyloid, thus inhibiting amyloid accumulation. So far, the research has been limited to mouse models and cell cultures, but offers promise if the blocking action of collagen VI can be safely boosted to prevent disease progression or incipience and via replication in humans.

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SAN FRANCISCO - Researchers at Stanford University have developed a potentially pathbreaking blood test that, according to preliminary studies, is able to identify patients with Alzheimer's disease -- an ailment that has been notoriously difficult to diagnose.

The test has also shown promise in predicting which patients with mild memory loss are at high risk of developing the dreaded syndrome, which kills 66,000 Americans each year and inflicts incalculable heartache on the families of its victims.

Scientists have been working for years without success to develop a simple way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative brain disease that saps memory, sows confusion and will eventually kill patients who may have lost the ability to speak, walk or swallow.

In a paper published Sunday in the online edition of the British journal Nature Medicine, a team of scientists led by Stanford neurology Professor Tony Wyss-Coray describe a unique method that can spot Alzheimer's patients by screening for a set of 18 chemical signals that consistently turn up in the blood of people suffering from the disease.

Tip from Wes Ashford

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