Since the ‘Amyloid Hypothesis’ was first described in 1991, many additional pieces of the puzzle have been discovered and ongoing research aims to discover the complex circumstances that cause diseases like Alzheimer’s.
We now believe that it is the combination of proteins like amyloid and tau, as well as processes like inflammation and blood vessel health within the brain which drive the diseases that cause dementia.
Dr Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Society, said:
'There are many types of amyloid we know contribute to brain cell death in dementia. This investigation only looked at a specific type of amyloid - aβ*56 - so if what’s suggested here ends up being true we definitely would not need to throw the baby out with the bath water.
'The amyloid hypothesis has a huge amount of credible research behind it, and has already led to three potentially promising treatments that are in the pipeline, giving us hope that we might be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in the next decade.
'The 1989 ground-breaking Alzheimer’s Society funded study which led Sir Professor John Hardy to see the link between amyloid and the onset of inherited Alzheimer’s disease completely revolutionised dementia research.
'While amyloid certainly does not represent the whole story, it's crucial that we keep pushing new approaches – like tackling inflammation. It will certainly not be a one-size-fits-all drug that cures this incredibly complex group of conditions.'
What role has Alzheimer’s Society played in amyloid research?
In 1989, Alzheimer’s Society, along with the Medical Research Council, jointly funded Sir Professor John Hardy, who was investigating the causes of an inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study found that family members living with this inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease had a mutation in a gene which contains the instructions for building amyloid protein – providing the first evidence that changes in the amyloid protein contributed to inherited Alzheimer’s disease. This was the beginnings of the ‘Amyloid Hypothesis’, which has since evolved to show the complex role of amyloid in the causes of dementia.
The ‘Amyloid Hypothesis’ has led to three treatments that are currently in accelerated pathways for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and represent the most promising treatments that might be able to slow down progression of Alzheimer's disease.
How is research published?
When scientists make new discoveries, they publish their results as papers in peer-reviewed journals. This peer-review process occurs before the research is published and involves other experts in the field assessing the paper.
Whilst this is a very successful system, there have been rare occasions where scientists have deliberately misled the peer-reviewers by fabricating the results in their paper. This is what is claimed to have happened here and if the allegations are true is scientific fraud.
Advances in computer technology are making it easier to identify cases of false, or misleading data within research papers making modern science more trustworthy.
However, there is another step in the scientific process to test the validity of a results, which is for another scientist to repeat the experiments in a paper and get the same outcome. This repetition occurs often when research groups try to build upon published research to better understand the bigger picture.
With this study, it was suggested that other research groups had tried and failed to find aβ*56. This is an example of how scientific research is able to self-correct.
How does Alzheimer’s Society ensure we fund the best quality research?
All research applications submitted to the Society are thoroughly assessed by an expert grant panel, which includes researchers and people affected by dementia, to ensure any study our supporters fund is of the highest calibre and relevance.
