Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Soluble protein oligomers in neurodegeneration: lessons from the Alzheimer's amyloid beta-peptide.

Haass C, Selkoe DJ

Adolf Butenandt Institute, Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Research, Ludwig Maximilians University, 80336 Munich, Germany. chaass@med.uni-muenchen.de

The distinct protein aggregates that are found in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and prion diseases seem to cause these disorders. Small intermediates - soluble oligomers - in the aggregation process can confer synaptic dysfunction, whereas large, insoluble deposits might function as reservoirs of the bioactive oligomers. These emerging concepts are exemplified by Alzheimer's disease, in which amyloid beta-protein oligomers adversely affect synaptic structure and plasticity. Findings in other neurodegenerative diseases indicate that a broadly similar process of neuronal dysfunction is induced by diffusible oligomers of misfolded proteins.

Published 24 January 2007 in Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 8(2): 101-12.
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