Researchers from VIB, KU Leuven, the UK-DRI and Muna Therapeutics, with funding that included support from ERC, have identified a major biological shift that may help determine whether Alzheimer's disease changes in the brain eventually lead to dementia.
Using donated brain tissue from older adults with and without cognitive decline, along with samples from cognitively healthy centenarians, the team uncovered distinct cellular programs and immune cell states linked to both disease progression and resistance. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, point to changes in microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, as a potentially important focus for future Alzheimer's treatments.
"This has been an exciting journey with many partners. The study, entirely based on human donor material, provides insight into one type of resilience mechanism in the progression of AD to dementia," says Prof. Bart De Strooper (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience, KU Leuven), ERC grantee and one of the co-senior authors of the study.
Why Alzheimer's Pathology Does Not Always Cause Dementia
Alzheimer's disease affects more than 55 million people worldwide. It is commonly associated with the buildup of amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles in the brain. However, these biological signs do not always match a person's mental condition.
