A new study by Harvard scientists has found that the brain's stress response system is the key to protecting the brain from Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
The researchers concluded that heightened cellular stress causes brain cells to produce a protein that blocks off Alzheimer's, according to Science Magazine.
Li-Huei Tsai, director of Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the study is significant in treating such diseases, the New York Times reported. Despite not participating in the research, Tsai wrote a commentary for the study.
"This is an extremely important study," Tsai said. "This is the first study that is really starting to provide a plausible pathway to explain why some people are more vulnerable to Alzheimer's than other people."
The scientists found that a protein, which was previously believed to only be active in developing fetuses, also appears later on in life to protect healthy older people from aging-related stresses, the New York Times reported. However, in people with Alzheimer's and other diseases, the protein, called REST, is absent in important brain areas. The researchers said that while more studies need to be done on REST, the protein can lead to the creation of treatments for dementia if the studies are expanded on.
"You're going to see a lot of papers now following up on it," said Dr. Eric M. Reiman, executive director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix, who was not involved in the study. "While it's a preliminary finding, it raises an avenue that hasn't been considered before. And if this provides a handle on which to understand normal brain aging, that will be great, too."
The research, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, also focuses on the brain being able to protect itself over time, the Huffington Post reported. Bruce Yankner, Harvard Medical School professor of genetics and leader of the study, said the study suggests that people can protect themselves from Alzheimer's if their brains have high levels of REST.
"If we could activate this stress-resistance gene network with drugs, it might be possible to intervene in the disease quite early," Yankner said. "Since Alzheimer's strikes later in life, delaying the onset of disease by just a few years could have a very substantial impact."
