"Researchers - Viruses May Help Cause Alzheimer’s Disease"
Viruses that hide in the brain might influence Alzheimer’s disease. That is what researchers said in a new study that is expected to restart debate about what causes the brain-wasting disease. A team led by researchers at the Mount Sinai Health System found that some viruses affect genes involved in Alzheimer’s. Among those genes are two very common herpes viruses. The possibility that viruses were around “came screaming out at us,” said Joel Dudley, PhD, director of the Next Generation Health Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and executive vice president of precision health for the Mount Sinai Health System. He was the leading author of the research published in the journal Neuron. The new study used computer models to see how the viral genes intervened in human genes, proteins and plaque buildup.
- 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
- Benjamin P. Readhead, Icahn Institute for Multiscale Biology, Institute for Next Generation Healthcare, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Additional coverage: