A ray of hope: Study reveals Alzheimer’s may be caused by misfiring immune system

By NewsGram Staff Writer

What could be more frightening than forgetting your own identity?

Finally, a new study suggests that deprivation of an amino acid called arginine may contribute to Alzheimer's, achronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time. It is expected that the finding could throw some light in creating new treatment strategies for patients suffering from the incapacitating illness.

A group of scientists at Duke University disclosed that their studies of Alzheimer's in mice had shown a new process that they believe contributes to the disease's development.

The team focused on the immune system of the rat found that cells designed to protect the brain from infection will uncharacteristically consume arginine during the early stages of Alzheimer's.

The finding suggested that jamming this process with a drug helps in preventing the formation of 'plaques' in the brain that are the characteristics of Alzheimer's disease.

However, there is no assurance that a method tested on animals can work the same way on humans, still the study presents a new ray of hope for the patients of Alzheimer's. It is so because, until now, the exact role of the immune system and arginine in Alzheimer's was completely unidentified.

Now, researchers' next plan is to test older mice suffering from an advanced form of Alzheimer's.

As per the 2015 statistics of Alzheimer's Disease International, there are nearly 44 million people worldwide who are suffering from Alzheimer's or a related dementia.