Possible Protective Immune Response in the Brain May Slow Progression of Alzheimer's

A study in Science Translational Medicine discovered the protein TREM2 may play a mitigating role in Alzheimer's disease progression, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers found subjects with higher concentrations of TREM2 in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) at various stages of the disease have a more positive prognosis, compared to those with lower concentrations. TREM2 is generated in the brain by microglial immune cells, and induces microglia to encapsulate and selectively kill toxic protein aggregates typical for Alzheimer's. The team verified that higher TREM2 levels were found in subjects where memory was less unstable and the rate of hippocampal shrinkage was less pronounced. "Our findings are of clinical relevance, because these subjects displayed a consistently reduced risk of developing dementia over a period of 11 years," says Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Professor Michael Ewers. TREM2's presence in the CSF typically increases during the early stages of Alzheimer's. "We are currently developing a therapeutic antibody that stimulates the TREM2 function and thus improves its protective effect," says LMU Professor Christian Haass.