Neuron Savers: Gene therapy slows Alzheimer’s disease
By Nathan Seppa
Putting extra copies of the gene for a cellular growth factor into the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease slows the degenerative condition, a new study suggests.
Alzheimer’s disease kills neurons, the brain cells that orchestrate message signaling throughout the nervous system. The gene added in this study encodes nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that keeps these cells alive and so facilitates signaling among them.