Alzheimer’s damage may begin outside the brain

Destructive immune cells tied to Alzheimer’s disease may get their marching orders from cells outside the brain rather than within it.

In mice, suppressing a small population of immune cells located in lymph nodes protects against neurodegeneration, researchers report September 3 in Nature Neuroscience . The findings raise the possibility of treating Alzheimer’s disease while bypassing the brain’s siege defenses.

For years, researchers have gone all in on efforts to remove toxic tangles of proteins like amyloid and tau from the brain as a way of halting Alzheimer’s, with limited success. But the immune system also plays an important role in…

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