Breakthrough Discovery: Scientists Restore Key Alzheimer’s Pathway – SciTechDaily
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Excerpt:
A research team from the Keck School of Medicine at USC has identified the mechanisms of a cellular pathway that drives inflammation and aging, particularly in individuals with the APOE4 genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Their study also reveals a method for restoring cells to a healthy state, offering a potential new avenue for treatment. This discovery, the result of a decade-long investigation into the ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) protein, was recently published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.
Previous research has shown that low levels of HDL cholesterol—often called “good” cholesterol—in the brain increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. This risk is linked to dysfunction in ABCA1, a protein responsible for producing HDL when functioning correctly.
But fixing those problems requires understanding the exact biological mechanisms at play—and those details have long eluded researchers, who faced an apparent paradox. In brains affected by Alzheimer’s disease, ABCA1 molecules increased, but their activity decreased.
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