Alzheimer’s researchers have long presumed that amyloid beta proteins are the brain’s garbage, accumulating over time but serving no obvious purpose. These plaques trigger the formation of tau proteins (or “tangles”), which proceed to destroy nerve cells.
Robert D. Moir of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital thought something was missing in this picture—and looked to proteins that live on our innate immune system for answers. Moir and his colleague Rudolph E. Tanzi noticed that amyloid proteins look like these immune system proteins, which trap and then purge harmful viruses, yeast, fungi, and bacteria. The two scientists wanted to see if amyloid plaques serve a similar function in the brain....
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/alzheimers-disease-may-be-caused-by-brain-infections/
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