Alzforum: Target or Decoy: Are drug developers chasing the right thing?
As the search for treatments of neurodegenerative diseases continues, UC led research on Alzheimer’s
As the search for treatments of neurodegenerative diseases continues, UC-led research on Alzheimer’s Disease continues to spur conversation about what causes the disease and how best to treat it.
In June 2021, Alberto Espay, director and endowed chair, Gardner Family Center for Parkinson's disease and Movement Disorders at the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, presented a study that contradicts prevailing Alzheimer’s theory: that the aggregation of -amyloid plaques lead to cognitive decline. The UC-led research contends that it’s instead the reduction of a certain brain fluid protein.
The article reflects on the evolution of drug therapies for different diseases and how they’ve helped, or not; and how researchers are currently reassessing Alzheimer’s treatments, including a controversial new drug approved by the FDA.
“Our key message is that neurodegenerative diseases, in general, are associated with loss of protein,” said Espay. He contends that yes, aggregates accumulate, but total soluble protein goes down and that is what leads to disease.
Featured image at top of Espay's study: Life Sciences Animation.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.