Blood-clotting protein may be new target for Alzheimer's drugs

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Brain leaks. Using two different dyes with different particle sizes scientists showed that blood vessels in mice with Alzheimers (bottom) are leakier than those in healthy mice (top). Large particles of green dye stayed inside the vessels while small ...
Brain leaks. Using two different dyes, with different particle sizes, scientists showed that blood vessels in mice with Alzheimer's (bottom) are leakier than those in healthy mice (top). Large particles of green dye stayed inside the vessels, while smaller, fibrin-sized particles of red dye crossed the blood-brain barrier.

Despite the rapid rise of Alzheimer’s disease — the Alzheimer’s Association predicts as many as 7.7 million cases by 2030 — there are no preventative treatments available, few in the pharmaceutical pipeline, and those drugs being developed all share the same two molecular targets. Now Rockefeller University researchers report that by targeting a different molecule, a blood-clotting protein called fibrin, they could reduce inflammation in the brains of mice with different models of the disease.


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