Newswise — Dozens of molecules may tangle up with rogue bundles of tau, a protein that normally gives nerve fibers structure, to cause brain cell damage that contributes to neurodegenerative diseases, a new study shows.
Neuroscientists have previously found that tau can become toxic when extra chemical molecules accumulate with its structure in the brain, causing it to form tangles of protein that destroy surrounding tissue.
Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study analyzed the makeup of such tangles and found 12 proteins that they say have not before been tied to both tau and Alzheimer’s disease. They also uncovered several dozen other proteins that appear in the latest stages of the disease as well as in the earliest phases of dementia.
“Our findings expand our understanding of the molecular interactions that drive Alzheimer’s and other…
