Glial cells and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting about 35 million people worldwide, and the number is growing.

The protein amyloid beta, which occurs naturally in the brain, plays a central role in the disease: It accumulates in patients in insoluble clumps that form plaques between neurons in the brain, damaging them.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences have now shown that, in addition to neurons, special glial cells in the brain also produce amyloid beta.

This finding could open up new avenues for future therapies.