One antibody protected mice brains and saved 40% more tissue

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to protect the brain from Alzheimer's damage without touching the toxic protein long blamed for it. In mice with tau buildup resembling Alzheimer's, researchers used an antibody to block a protein called CXCR3, which lets destructive immune cells into the brain. After three and a half months, treated mice had about half as many of those T cells and retained roughly 40% more tissue in memory regions. They also did better on a memory test. The tau tangles themselves never changed. "In tauopathies, including Alzheimer's disease, there's no treatment right now that actually decreases neurodegeneration," said David Holtzman, senior author of the study, published September 28 in Neuron. The antibody did something useful by being lazy. It reached the edge of the brain and stopped, never crossing the blood-brain barrier that defeats most drugs. The work has so far been tested only in mice.