Chemspy chemistry news and views

Protein Tweak May Trigger Alzheimer’s - A highly toxic beta-amyloid -- a protein that exists in the brains of Alzheimer's disease victims -- has been found to greatly increase the toxicity of other more common and less toxic beta-amyloids, serving as a possible "trigger" for the advent and development of Alzheimer's, researchers at the University of Virginia and German biotech company Probiodrug have discovered. Reference: 'Prion-like behaviour and tau-dependent cytotoxicity of pyroglutamylated amyloid-β,' G. Bloom et al, Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11060