WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a new story for Inside Science News Service, Joel Shurkin offers an intimate look at why Alzheimer's research is failing to help patients, including his own wife. Inside Science is an editorially-independent nonprofit journalism venture operated by the American Institute of Physics.
Researchers have long believed that Alzheimer's disease symptoms are caused by protein deposits called "amyloid plaques." But the amyloid model may be wrong, writes Shurkin, and that could explain why so many new drugs have failed in clinical trials. Shurkin's wife was a patient in a now-canceled trial, and her story offers a poignant glimpse of the human cost of such failures.
Shurkin explains the science that led to the amyloid model, as well as the creeping doubts now rising amongst Alzheimer's researchers. He goes on to describe potential new directions for future research -- research that will be too late for his wife, but perhaps life-saving for others down the road.
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