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.

Cystatin C inhibits amyloid-beta deposition in Alzheimer's disease mouse models.

Mi W, Pawlik M, Sastre M, Jung SS, Radvinsky DS, Klein AM, Sommer J, Schmidt SD, Nixon RA, Mathews PM, Levy E

Nathan S. Kline Institute, Orangeburg, New York 10962, USA.

Using transgenic mice expressing human cystatin C (encoded by CST3), we show that cystatin C binds soluble amyloid-beta peptide and inhibits cerebral amyloid deposition in amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice. Cystatin C expression twice that of the endogenous mouse cystatin C was sufficient to substantially diminish amyloid-beta deposition. Thus, cystatin C has a protective role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, and modulation of cystatin C concentrations may have therapeutic implications for the disease.

Published 29 November 2007 in Nat Genet, 39(12): 1440-2.
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