Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease is characterized by the progressive accumulation of amyloid peptides in amyloid plaques and Tau peptides in neuronal tangles spread over the brain. This proteopathic stress induces a complex cascade of cellular reactions which leads over a period of several decades to clinical dementia. The disease appears to be very difficult to model in non-primate species. In my seminar I will cover two topics. First I will speak about the proteases that are responsible for the initial generation of the amyloid peptide and how targeting them might yield preventative therapy for Alzheimer Disease. Second I will discuss a novel in vivo model for Alzheimer Disease. I will show how human neurons transplanted into a mouse brain loaded with amyloid peptide recapitulate important features of the disease.

Ref: De Strooper and Karran. The cellular phase of Alzheimer Disease, Cell 2016.