This milestone is truly a testament to our donor community, without whom we could not accelerate the science that is going to end the burden of this disease.
All of us at CureAlz—our Board, Trustees, supporters, staff and funded researchers—are determined to uncover every potential solution to this unforgiving disease that impacts more than 6.9 million people in the United States and millions more worldwide.
Over the last 20 years, our funded researchers have made many significant discoveries in the most promising areas of Alzheimer’s science. Our new publication shares some of these important discoveries around the neuroimmune response to Alzheimer’s pathology and its impact on Alzheimer’s neurodegeneration.
At CureAlz, the newest scientific discoveries drive our funding decisions, and we constantly seek to address neglected questions fundamental to the onset and progression of this disease. A recent example where we applied these core beliefs involves an exciting discovery, a mysterious difference between the sexes and two of our priority areas of study —the microbiome and neuroinflammation.
I invite you to read the article titled “A New Compound Reduces Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology in Male Mice,” about scientists from two different labs conducting independent investigations. Interestingly, both found that altering gut bacteria with a drug derived from seaweed reduced amyloid beta pathology in mouse models, seemingly by modulating neuroinflammation. This exciting discovery was tempered by its limitation to male mice; pathology in female model mice was unaffected.
Earlier CureAlz-funded work using a different intervention on the gut microbiome had similarly achieved positive changes in neuroinflammation and amyloid beta pathology in male but not female model mice. On some level, these results were not entirely surprising—the immune responses of men and women are different, leading, for example, to far higher rates of most autoimmune diseases in women than in men—but the reasons for this difference are not known and have been little explored in Alzheimer’s disease.
In science, given that resources are scarce, follow-on research usually focuses on experimental interventions that achieve positive research findings, while lines of investigation that yielded negative findings are abandoned. CureAlz welcomed the opportunity to enable further work to understand the mechanisms of the benefits of microbiome alteration in male mice. However, CureAlz also recognized the importance of understanding the nonresponse seen in female mice for insights into what might work better. I am proud to share that CureAlz is funding a follow-up study to resolve this mysterious difference between the male and female response.
Sangram S. Sisodia, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago, has an ongoing, CureAlz-funded study titled “Identifying the Sex-Specific Roles of the Gut Microbiome-Brain Axis in a Mouse Model of Amyloid Beta Amyloidosis.” This study seeks to explain the mechanism(s) by which circulating levels of estrogen may influence amyloid beta deposition and neuroinflammation. We hope this will shed light on why females and males respond differently, and will help inform future scientific research and future therapeutics.
It has been my great honor to be a part of the solution to Alzheimer’s disease and I am determined to continue to follow the science until it leads us to a cure. I am grateful to all the generous donors who have chosen to actively fight this disease through their support of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. We and our scientists are hard at work ensuring that these funds are well-used to make progress every day.
On behalf of our researchers, our Board of Directors, our Trustees and the staff of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, thank you for your past giving and your continued partnership with Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. I hope you will consider doing so again.
Respectfully,
Meg Smith
Chief Executive Officer
CURE ALZHEIMER’S FUND