CONFERENCE COVERAGE SERIES
AAT-AD/PD Focus Meeting 2018 - Advances in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Therapies
Torino, Italy
15 – 18 March 2018
After Plasma Aβ, Now Plasma P-Tau181 Shows Promise
Scientists at the AAT-AD/PD conference debuted new detection methods for this biomarker, which they say distinguished healthy controls from MCI and AD.
To Block Tau’s Proteopathic Spread, Antibody Must Attack its Mid-Region
The epitope that a therapeutic tau antibody targets determines whether it prevents seeding in cellular assays, raising questions about first-generation antibody trials.
DIAN and ADNI Data Say Familial and Sporadic AD Converge
A comparison of these large data sets shows that while the two forms of Alzheimer’s disease have separate triggers, they follow the same course and are much more similar than different.
News From the PET Front: Early Amyloid Networks and Tau Mystery
At AAT-AD/PD, scientists showed that correlated amyloid patches are an even earlier marker than brain-wide positivity, while others puzzled over why tau signals are lower in older people.
Alzheimer’s Incidence is Rising, Not Falling, a Researcher Says
A widely popularized finding of shrinking dementia rates is entirely due to less vascular dementia, and is in fact concealing a rise in AD and PD, according to a provocative talk at AAT-AD/PD.
Parkinson’s Treatments Go After Genetic Targets
Researchers at AAT-AD/PD discussed investigational PD treatments that aim to modify disease by hitting genetic risk factors.
Do Immune Responses Promote, or Prevent, Parkinson’s Disease?
In animal models, a PD risk gene revs up the immune system to fight infections, while probiotic bacteria slow α-synuclein aggregation.
Will PET Tracer, Monkey Model, Finally Bulk Up Toolbox for Parkinson’s?
At AAT-AD/PD, scientists said an α-synuclein PET tracer is headed into trials. And marmosets model PD behaviors better than rodents. (Spoiler alert: They kick their partners while they sleep.)