An Outcast Among Peers Gains Traction on Alzheimer's Cure by Janne Whalen. The Wall Street Journal. November 9, 2012.
This article traces the two prevailing theories of the causes of Alzheimer's disease and the growing attention being accorded to one of those theories. Up until now the prevailing theory is that Alzheimer's is cause by beta amyloid, a protein that forms sticky plaques in the brains of sufferers. With the failure of two large clinical trials of drugs designed to attack beta amyloid, new attention is being directed toward the alternate theory involving tau, another protein. Tau is thought to be involved in the tangles in the brain cells of Alzheimer's patients. The article focuses on the efforts of Dr. Claude Wischik, a long-time advocate of the tau theory, as he advances new possible cures for the disease. The article also provides an interesting historical and political case study of the evolution of cures for a significant disease.
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