PremiumIn Alzheimer's disease, a person slowly begins to forget everything he or she ever knew. In AD, both patients, as well as caregivers, suffer as it causes immense problems
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Several epidemiological studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease (AD) can affect women twice as likely as men though the exact reason behind this phenomenon was not clear so far. A recent study published in the journal 'Nature', however, might find answers to this question.
The study, led by Prof Keqiang Ye from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says the C/EBPb/AEP pathway was the main factor driving the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases.
"Based on this theory, our team searched for female hormones that are dramatically changed during menopause and tested which hormone selectively activates the C/EBPb/AEP pathway," said Prof Ye, adding that they found follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) as the major pathogenic factor.
"During menopause, the serum concentration of FSH strongly increases, binding to the cognate FSH receptor on neurons and activating the C/EBPb/AEP pathway. This resulted in Ab and Tau pathologies, leading to the development of AD," said Dr Zaidi Mone, co-corresponding author of the study and a tenured professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
What is Alzheimer's disease:
In Alzheimer's disease, a person slowly begins to forget everything he or she ever knew. In AD, both patients, as well as caregivers, suffer as it cause immense problems.
Methods to demonstrate findings:
Researchers said they used ovariectomised mice to carry out anti-FSH antibody treatment, which blocked FSH and inactivated the C/EBPb/AEP pathway. Upon deleting FSH receptor (FSHR) expression in neurons to abolish the binding of FSH to FSHR in the hippocampus, they saw it alleviated pathology and cognitive dysfunction. They also found that knockdown of C/EBPb in the AD mice model also reduced the AD pathologies.
They not only worked with female mice but also injected FSH into male mice only to find it promoted AD pathologies.
Findings:
Researchers found increased FSH after menopause binds to FSHR in neurons and activates the C/EBPb/AEP pathway, which plays an important role in triggering AD pathology. They now plan to dissect the relationship between specific risk genes such as ApoE4 and FSH to explore why female ApoE4 carriers are more vulnerable to developing AD.
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