New cause for Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative, terminal form of dementia that affects over 35 million people world-wide. Oxidative stress, which occurs in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, may modify molecules, resulting in loss or alteration of their function.

A precursor to nerve growth factor (pro-NGF) is expressed at high levels in Alzheimer's disease-affected individuals, and accumulation of pro-NGF may lead to neural cell death. Kichev et al showed that pro-NGF is modified in an Alzheimer's disease stage-dependent manner by oxidative stress and that modified pro-NGF blocked processing to mature NGF and led to neuronal cell death. Furthermore, injection of modified pro-NGF or pro-NGF derived from human Alzheimer's disease patients into mice resulted in cognitive and learning impairment, suggesting that modified pro-NGF may provide a novel pathogenic pathway for Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Espinet's group suggests "that intra-cerebroventricular administration of AGE/ALEs modified pro-NGF to mice impairs learning tasks, thus reinforcing the idea that pro-NGF could have a relevant role in the ethiopathogenesis of the disease."