Key Points
Washington [US], April 22 (ANI): According to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers, people with dementia have protein buildup in their astrocytes, which may cause abnormal antiviral activity and memory loss...
But a new study, published in Science Advances, suggests that abnormal immune activity in non-neuronal brain cells called astrocytes is sufficient to cause cognitive deficits in dementia..
Avital Licht-Murava, a former postdoctoral associate in the Orr lab, examined tissue samples from deceased individuals who were diagnosed with either Alzheimers disease or frontotemporal dementia, they found an accumulation of a protein called TDP-43 in astrocytes within the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory..
Adam Orr, an assistant professor of research in neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and a member of the Appel Alzheimers Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine, analyzed gene expression and found high levels of antiviral gene activities, even though no virus was present in the brain..
Abnormal immune activity in astrocytes might contribute to these cognitive effects as well as increase individuals susceptibility to viral infections, which could further worsen brain health and promote some cases of dementia...
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