The February 2, 2017 issue of Neurology Today reports on recent research by Christian Haass, PhD, who received the AFAR-administered MetLife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease in 2015. The article discusses research that Haass originally published as senior author in the December 14, 2016 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
In “Levels of Immune Marker TREM2 Rise Years Before Alzheimer's Disease Becomes Apparent” Neurology Today notes:
Researchers reported that TREM2 levels rise early on in the progression of Alzheimer's disease, and that the biomarker might be useful in clinical research to evaluate the benefits of new AD therapies on neuroinflammation, or may one day be a therapeutic target itself.
Dr. Haass shares:
“We found that cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] soluble TREM2 [sTREM2] levels were abnormally increased about seven years before the onset of dementia symptoms but after changes in CSF amyloid-beta peptide and tau. These results suggest that amyloid disposition occurs first and the neuroimmune response occurs only subsequently within the pathological cascade of events.”
For expert commentary on the study’s potential, Neurology Today also features 1995 MetLife Award winner and AFAR board member Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, as well as 1995 Met Life Award winner Thomas D. Bird, MD, and 1994 MetLIfe winner Alison Goate, D.Phil.
Read the full article here, and the original study here.
Christian Haass, PhD, is the Chair of Metabolic Biochemistry and Head of the Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disease Research (Haass Lab) at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, is a Professor of Neurology and holder of the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Endowed Chair in Neurology at Harvard University. At the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dr. Tanzi serves as the Vice-Chair of Neurology (Research) and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit.
For an expert edited summary on AD research , read AFAR’s InfoAging Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease.
