Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia, affects an increasing number of individuals each year and gradually damages brain cells. This disease not only impacts memory but also causes problems with thinking and difficulty in performing daily activities. Studies show that women make up a larger share of those affected by this disease, and researchers are seeking to understand the cause of this difference.
Alzheimer's Proteins in Women
The new findings from the Mayo Clinic point to new biological clues. Women who showed signs of two abnormal proteins in the brain faced a much faster accumulation of one of the main proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease. Kajal Kantarachi, a physician and researcher at the Mayo Clinic, and Elijah Mack, one of the researchers in this study, have investigated the proteins that may play a role in this difference.
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The protein “tau” is one of these proteins that helps support nerve cells in a healthy brain, but in Alzheimer's disease, it can become abnormal and form tangles. As these changes spread, damage to areas of the brain that are important for memory and thinking also increases. The second protein under investigation is “alpha-synuclein,” known for its role in Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.
The Role of Alpha-Synuclein in Accelerating Alzheimer's
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic examined 415 participants from the “Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.” This long-term research program tracks changes in the brain and memory over time. Participants underwent brain imaging to measure tau protein and also had spinal fluid tests to identify abnormal alpha-synuclein.
About 17 percent of the participants showed evidence of abnormal alpha-synuclein. Researchers then examined whether the presence of this protein, along with Alzheimer’s-related changes, affected the rate of tau accumulation. A significant pattern was observed among women. Women who had both types of protein changes showed a much faster increase in tau accumulation, with some measurements indicating that this process was up to 20 times faster than in comparison groups.
This finding suggests that alpha-synuclein may interact differently with Alzheimer's-related processes in women. If this theory is confirmed, it could help researchers understand the reason for the significant differences in the progression of Alzheimer's disease from one individual to another. It may also provide another clue about the higher prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in women.
Need for Further Research
Although this research does not clearly prove that alpha-synuclein directly accelerates the progression of Alzheimer's in women, its results indicate the need for further studies in this area. Researchers are also investigating whether similar patterns are observed in dementia with Lewy bodies.
Understanding how multiple harmful proteins interact with each other may ultimately help doctors more accurately identify different types of dementia. These findings provide further evidence that Alzheimer's disease is not the same for all patients and that future treatments should consider these biological differences.
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