One Less Option

When searching for new treatments and tactics to stave off disease, it's just as important to know what doesn’t work as to understand what does. Alzheimer’s disease is caused in part by an over accumulation of a protein called tau in neurons (brain cells). Tau is essential for healthy brain cell function, but too much causes problems. Previous research had implied that a particular molecule, MAPT-AS1, might help keep tau levels under control. A new study confirmed that it is present in neurons, but found evidence that it does not affect tau. When MAPT-AS1 was over-expressed (red in the neurons pictured), tau (brown) levels stayed the same. This suggests we can cross MAPT-AS1 off the list of potential treatment approaches, which is one important step in narrowing down the search.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

Website

• Image from work by Rafaela Policarpo and colleagues
• Neuroscience Discovery, Janssen Research & Development, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Beerse, Belgium
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS ONE, January 2025