A microglial transition could mean the difference between a healthy brain and Alzheimer’s disease Some people with amyloid plaques and tau tangles in their brain never develop Alzheimer’s disease. New research suggests it comes down to microglial activity. Written byAllison Whitten, PhD

A microglial transition could mean the difference between a healthy brain and Alzheimer’s disease Some people with amyloid plaques and tau tangles in their brain never develop Alzheimer’s disease. New research suggests it comes down to microglial activity. Written byAllison Whitten, PhD https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/a-microglial-transition-could-mean-the-difference-between-a-healthy-brain-and-alzheimer-s-disease-17273?utm_campaign=DDN_Newsletter_Dose&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_qwl0FiYdzQ0FjoF5pHFPPnwt1-88MP98J41WMyAvrK2bw2GVkJC7D-Ujak870yfzN5TIVKxxvnHuN3QfXiMv16ggafg&_hsmi=445381586&utm_content=445381586&utm_source=hs_email Whether or not someone develops Alzheimer’s disease could be the result of a key transition in microglial activity, according to new research published recently in Nature Medicine. Researchers led by Mark Fiers and Bart De Strooper at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience and University College London, in collaboration with Muna Therapeutics, found that microglia switch from an early inflammatory response in the presence of amyloid plaques to an antigen-presenting state that coincides with the development of tau tangles. Fiers told DDN that the work “started from an observation that has mystified the field for years: Many people have a brain full of amyloid but never get dementia.” The research team wanted to use spatial transcriptomics techniques to specifically study what goes on in the brain around amyloid plaques. Their work revealed that the postmortem brains of octogenarians and centenarians who did not show cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease — despite having the classic pathology in their brains — diverged in their patterns of microglial resilience.