CONFERENCE COVERAGE SERIES
International Conference on Alzheimer's & Parkinson’s Diseases 2015
Nice, France
18 – 22 March 2015
The 12th AD/PD conference drew some 3,100 people from across the world to the Mediterranean city of Nice. After a long day of talks—sessions ran from 8:30 a.m. to a grueling 7:15 p.m.—hungry scientists could be seen strolling to dinner across the Place Massena, with its illuminated resin statues created by the Catalan contemporary artist Jaume Plensa. The seven characters on their pedestals represent seven continents, and the changing color of their lighting is said to symbolize communication between them. At the conference, talks in four parallel sessions ran the gamut from basic to clinical science on Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, the in-between disease dementia with Lewy bodies, and even a session on the ALS-FTD spectrum.
Biogen Antibody Buoyed by Phase 1 Data and Hungry Investors
Antibody against aggregated Aβ reported to clear out amyloid from brain, and perhaps slow cognitive decline, in people with prodromal Alzheimer’s disease.
Antibody Against α-Synuclein Looks Safe In Phase 1
Treatments targeting the main pathological protein of Parkinson’s disease are moving toward the clinic, with two immunotherapies passing Phase 1 safety benchmarks.
At AD/PD Meeting, New BACE Inhibitor Struts Its Stuff
The newest contender in the race for a drug to rein in the β-secretase enzyme debuted with data that reflected a methodical approach to understand a drug’s performance in cerebrospinal fluid before looking for efficacy.
D-peptides as Drugs? Protein Therapy Approaching Phase 1 Trials
Peptides made from D-amino acids bind to Aβ oligomers and trigger their removal from the brain. Some appear poised to enter Phase 1.
New Genetics Frontiers: Finding Modifiers, Making Sense of Pathways
At the AD/PD conference, researchers reported a protective gene variant that delays Alzheimer’s onset by 10 years, and parsed pathways to find out why particular neurons take the hit in specific diseases.
Form and Function: What Makes α-Synuclein Toxic?
New data argue that multimers of α-synuclein may protect against pathological aggregation.
Protein Propagation Real, but Mechanisms Hazy
Researchers no longer debate whether misfolded proteins spread through the brain in neurodegenerative disease. Now they want to know how.
The Feud, Act II: Do Alzheimer’s Genes Affect Amyloid or Tau?
Researchers link the AD Risk gene BIN1 to tau and amyloid in different model systems, and propose a mechanism for how a PICALM variant might be protective.
Could Adaptive Immunity Set the Brakes on Amyloid?
Genetic and animal studies hint that B and T cells control amyloid accumulation, though the mechanisms remain unclear.
Microglia—Who Are You Really? New Clues Emerge
At AD/PD, researchers further tied TREM2 to phagocytosis and enumerated markers that may distinguish beneficial microglia from harmful ones.