The formation of abnormal strands of protein called amyloid fibrils — associated with two dozen diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to type-2 diabetes — may not be permanent and irreversible as previously thought, scientists are reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Rather, protein molecules are constantly attaching and detaching from the fibrils, in a recycling process that could be manipulated to yield new treatments for Alzheimer’s and other diseases. In a study that focused on the fibrils associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Natàlia Carulla and colleagues explain that scientists once believed that the fibrils themselves caused the memory loss and other symptoms of AD. During the last 10 years, however, suspicion has fallen on some toxic intermediate of the process through which those fibrils form in the brain. This study suggests that fibrils could be a source of those toxic intermediates.
