Protein misfolding as a risk marker for Alzheimer’s disease

alzheimers
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In symptom-free individuals, the detection of misfolded amyloid-β protein in the blood indicates a considerably higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease—up to 14 years before a clinical diagnosis is made. Amyloid-β folding has proven to be superior to other risk markers evaluated, as shown by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), the Saarland Cancer Registry, and the Network Aging Research at Heidelberg University.

There is currently still no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. For many experts, this is largely due to the fact that the disease cannot be clinically diagnosed until long after the biological onset, when…

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