Doses of DNA-gene-coated gold particles protect mice against a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. By pressure-injecting the gene responsible for producing the specific protein – called amyloid-beta 42 – the researchers caused the mice to make antibodies and greatly reduce the protein’s build-up in the brain. Accumulation of amyloid-beta 42 in humans is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
