We'd like to have more answers in hand before baby boomers reach retirement age in the next 20 years and the number of cases explodes. Calif. Scientists aren't sure if these plaques, formed by the buildup of errant protein fragments, cause AD or are part of its aftermath. These beta amyloid plaques form on the outside of brain cells, becoming so dense in Alzheimer's patients that they mobilize an immune inflammatory response. This reaction kills neurons that transmit essential brain information. Vaccines developed in the United Kingdom have arrested plaque development or reversed it in lab mice.
Human applicability is the next step.
Other research focuses on the complex abnormal tangles within neurons of AD patients. It might be the aftermath of the disease as well. Scientists are not sure of Alzheimer's exact cause. Chow likens the search to investigating a wildly destructive party. You see pizza containers and the beer cans, and that's the evidence of the party.