Elena Gocmen Rueda
SPANISH researchers have discovered a protein that protects the brain from Alzheimer’s disease.
The discovery was made by a team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council and announced this week.
They found that the little-known LRP3 protein controls levels of beta-amyloid, which is found to build up in layers in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Reducing these layers is known to improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s, so targeting this protein could be an important development towards treating the disease..
Little was known until now about the functions of this protein in the body.
Researchers found that levels of LRP3 were greatly reduced in people with Alzheimer’s compared to healthy people, showing a clear link.
Some 40,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s are diagnosed in Spain each year and it is the leading cause of dementia and disability in older people worldwide.
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