"A Common Virus May Play Role In Alzheimer’s Disease, Study Finds" - Pam Belluck
It has long been a controversial theory about Alzheimer’s disease, often dismissed by experts as a sketchy cul-de-sac off the beaten path from mainstream research. But a new study by a team that includes prominent Alzheimer’s scientists who were previously skeptics of this theory may well change that. The research offers compelling evidence for the idea that viruses might be involved in Alzheimer’s, particularly two types of herpes that infect most people as infants and then lie dormant for years. “These viruses are probably significant players in driving the immune system in Alzheimer’s,” said Joel Dudley, PhD, the study’s senior author and the director of the Next Generation Healthcare Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “I think they’re like gas on the flames of some pathology that may be immune-driven.”
- Joel Dudley, PhD, Director, Next Generation Healthcare Institute, Associate Professor, Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Executive Vice President, Precision Health, Mount Sinai Health System
- Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD, Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry, Associate Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, The Mount Sinai Center for Cognitive Health and NFL Neurological Care
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