Is Alzheimer’s Disease an Autoimmune Disease?
While Alzheimer’s disease has been known as a neurodegenerative disease, a new model mentioned in a piece titled Alzheimer’s disease as an innate autoimmune disease (AD2): A new molecular paradigm proposes that Alzheimer’s disease is an autoimmune disease within the brain. This model was born from a comprehensive analysis of existing journals and patent literature.
In this model, immune-stimulating events such as infection or trauma spur the release of a protein called amyloid beta. Amyloid beta’s antimicrobial activity helps our bodies fight infections. Amyloid beta also launches a cascade of immune responses. However, problems arise when amyloid beta can’t distinguish between a bacterium and a brain cell and begins attacking brain cells.
Most approaches to Alzheimer’s disease as a neurodegenerative disease view the disease as caused in part by an accumulation and clumping of amyloid beta in the brain, killing brain cells along the way.
Citation:
Weaver D. F. (2022). Alzheimer’s disease as an innate autoimmune disease (AD2 ): A new molecular paradigm. Alzheimer’s & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 10.1002/alz.12789. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12789