New Plaque Protein Identified in Brains of People with Alzheimer's Disease
July 1997
in “
The Lancet
”
TLDR Scientists found a new protein, AMY117, common in Alzheimer's patients, which could be important for treatment and diagnosis.
In a 1997 study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Alzheimer's Disease Center identified a new protein, AMY117, which appears to be abundant, widespread, and highly specific to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The team, led by John Trojanowski, discovered that AMY117-positive plaques were prevalent in the brains of individuals with sporadic AD and those with Down's syndrome, but were rare or absent in control subjects and in those with other neurodegenerative diseases. This finding suggests that AMY117 may play a crucial role in the development and progression of AD and could provide new targets for therapy and a potential diagnostic marker for the disease. The study's results were published in the American Journal of Pathology.
