Mary Reid on Neurotoxic Homocysteine Metabolite Boosts Intracellular Aβ

COMMENT Does homocysteic acid also induce expression of HERP (Homocysteine- and endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducible protein, ubiquitin-like domain-containing, 1)? Sai et al. (1) report that HERP increases the generation of amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) and that

Paul Coleman on Precursor form of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor are decreased in the pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease.

COMMENT It is refreshing to see studies of BDNF in AD extend to the forms of this trophic factor. 0 Paul_Coleman

Curtis Dobson on Coregistration of quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging with neuropathological and neurophysiological analyses defines the extent of neuronal impairments in murine human immunodeficiency virus type-1 encephalitis.

COMMENT Mattson et al. (2005) have commented, combination antiretroviral therapy has led to a decreased incidence

Michael G. Agadjanyan on Effects of alpha-synuclein immunization in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

COMMENT α-synuclein is a soluble protein that is highly enriched in the presynaptic terminals of neurons in the central nervous system (Iwai A et al., 1995), and it may play a central role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease (PD) (Polymeropoulos et al., 1997

Mark Cookson on Effects of alpha-synuclein immunization in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

COMMENT It seems increasingly likely that α-synuclein is central to the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease and diffuse Lewy body disease. Therefore, strategies like the one outlined in this paper to decrease α-synuclein protein levels may be viable options for the

Maria Falangola on Histological co-localization of iron in Abeta plaques of PS/APP transgenic mice.

COMMENT The histological demonstration of iron in Aβ plaques is important not only because of its possible role in the pathogenesis of the disease, but also because the Aβ-iron complex can be used as a mechanism of detection and progression of the disease by magn

Li-Huei Tsai on Cell-cycle reentry and cell death in transgenic mice expressing nonmutant human tau isoforms.

COMMENT This is a remarkable study illustrating the relationship of human tau expression, neuronal loss, and tau filaments. The dissociation of tau filaments and cell death provides provocative evidence against the contributing role of tau filaments in cell death

John Trojanowski on Anchorless prion protein results in infectious amyloid disease without clinical scrapie.

COMMENT This study adds fuel and new information to the debate on whether it is fibrillar amyloid or oligomerized species of amyloidogenic proteins that are the neurotoxic moities in neurodegenerative brain amyloidoses such as prion diseases, AD, PD, and other ta

John Trojanowski on The cell cycle in Alzheimer disease: a unique target for neuropharmacology.

COMMENT This is a thoughtful review of an underinvestigated but potentially important pathway to neurodegeneration in AD and other related disorders. 0 trojanow

John Trojanowski on Counting costs. Patients will suffer from limits on Alzheimer's drugs.

COMMENT This is sobering news from a national health service that makes tough choices on balancing costs for AD medications with data on their long-term as well as short-term efficacy. 0 trojanow

John Trojanowski on Alpha-synuclein alters proteasome function, protein synthesis, and stationary phase viability.

COMMENT This is another study utilizing yeast as a model system for protein aggregating diseases that lead to brain-specific amyloidoses such as AD, PD, and related tauopathies and synucleinopathies. It will be informative to see if insights from yeast models tra

John Trojanowski on Do Alzheimer's disease patients want to participate in a treatment decision, and would their caregivers let them?

COMMENT This study provides new insights into a surprisingly negeleted aspect of AD. 0 trojanow

Iftach Yacoby on A New BACE for Immunotherapy

COMMENT Our article is related to the very important accelerated endocytosis process as presented firstly by the Nixon group. The question of what leads to this process is key for understanding the early process of AD. I believe that a clue can be attained from D

Paul Coleman on Alteration of protein kinase C conformation in red blood cells: a potential marker for Alzheimer's disease but not for Parkinson's disease.

COMMENT my comments) have also found AD red blood cells to differ from controls. Certainly the Janoshazi et

Emory Hill on The relationships between television viewing in midlife and the development of Alzheimer's disease in a case-control study.

COMMENT This correlation approach is mostly harmless, but the focus upon intellectual stimulation for purposes of prevention may have some long-term negative consequences. Not only is it somewhat misleading (the significance, based on big samples, having little i