Why We Must Attack Alzheimer's Disease on a Range of Research Fronts

Stroke doesn't need this, don't you know 'Stroke is Treatable'.  Then why isn't everyone 100% recovered? Whom is lying?






 https://www.rdmag.com/article/2017/08/why-we-must-attack-alzheimers-disease-range-research-fronts?
 by Diane Bovenkamp, Ph.D. BrightFocus Vice President, Scientific Affairs
Alzheimer’s is a frustratingly complex disease of mixed origins that expresses itself in different ways. At least 70 percent of its variation remains unexplained. In an age when so much about Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown, a depth and range of funded topics is a necessity.  Numerous routes of discovery must be explored.
Scientists recognize that it’s unlikely one magic drug will prevent, postpone, or cure Alzheimer’s. Instead, a combination approach, or “cocktail” of different drugs may be necessary to modify or slow the progression of this complicated disease. That makes it all the more important that scientists explore various pathways and stages of the disease to find feasible drug targets.
Alzheimer’s Disease Research (ADR), a program of the BrightFocus Foundation, is currently funding nearly 100 research projects worldwide, an investment totaling more than $22 million.
Here’s an overview of some of the Alzheimer’s topics engaging researchers in that program today.
Stopping Alzheimer’s by understanding how it starts
Our understanding of what causes Alzheimer’s disease remains incomplete, but we learn more each day. We know that a major turning point in the disease is when proteins in the brain—including tau and amyloid beta (AB)—go from “normal” to “diseased” and cause neuron death.  These proteins undergo molecular changes and take on altered shapes, causing them to collect into tangles, plaques, and vascular deposits that are toxic to surrounding tissues.
This picture is complicated by the fact that some neurons will develop tau tangles, while others next to them remain healthy, for reasons we don’t understand. Some researchers are pursuing an exhaustive cell-by-cell comparison, to see what makes some neurons more vulnerable or resistant than others.
Two examples here and here.
Regulating immune factors and clearance mechanisms
One unifying theory about Alzheimer’s disease is that it may be triggered, in part, by a breakdown in the brain’s immune system.  Normally our brain has ways of clearing damaged cells and other unwanted particles and disposing them into the cerebrospinal fluid and bloodstream, akin to “taking out the garbage.” But a chronic rise in unwanted debris, including toxic AB and tau proteins, can short-circuit the immune system.
When cells in the central nervous system, known as microglia, malfunction, they lead to tissue inflammation.  Researchers are looking at what causes the immune response to become unbalanced, and whether there are ways to help the brain’s immune system do a better job of fighting Alzheimer’s.
Two examples here and here.