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A US research team from the Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center – Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, coordinated by Professor Paul Coleman, has advanced a hypothesis on the triggering cause of Alzheimer’s disease, which has long been a subject of curiosity among scientists, given the number of affected subjects worldwide.
The study in question believes that the pathology is based on a blockage in communication between the cell nucleus, where the DNA resides, and the cytoplasm, which includes everything present in the cells except the organelles and the nucleus.
The block in cellular transport would be caused by the accumulation in the brain of stress granules (SG), which are “membraneless cytoplasmic condensates containing untranslated mRNA, translation pre-initiation factors and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs)”.
These are aggregates of RNA and proteins that form in response to stress, which can be triggered by multiple factors, such as toxins from environmental pollution, the presence of pathogens, or malnutrition. Stress grains protect RNA and proteins and, accumulating in the brain, can gradually lead to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, or the death of neurons, which is the basis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists believe that recognizing and targeting these stress granules could represent a breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as the disease has profound implications for society and future medical approaches. The details of the research, “Massive changes in gene expression and their cause(s) can be a unifying principle in the pathobiology of Alzheimer’s disease,” were published in the scientific journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.