Hope for Alzheimer’s

A team of Italian and American researchers recently discovered a mutated form of beta-protein that may one day be used to prevent or retard the progress of Alzheimer's disease. To date, scientists at the Besta Institute, the Mario Negri Institute in Milan and the Nathan Kline Institute of

by Editorial Staff

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Thu 26 Mar 2009 1:00 AM

A team of Italian and American researchers recently discovered a mutated form of beta-protein that may one day be used to prevent or retard the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. To date, scientists at the Besta Institute, the Mario Negri Institute in Milan and the Nathan Kline Institute of Orangeburg have seen the beta-protein at work only in test tubes, but they are now studying its effect in animals. Alzheimer’s affects 450,000 people in Italy and six million in Europe. These numbers are expected to double by 2050 as the population elderly increases.