Alzheimer’s Disease Exhibits Accelerated Pathological Protein Aggregation In Women

Tau protein accumulation that leads to memory loss in Alzheimer's disease seems to progress at a higher accumulation rate in women as compared to men.

Tau protein accumulation that leads to memory loss in Alzheimer's disease seems to progress at a higher rate in women, as per a research from Lund University in Sweden, published in the journal Brain.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to gradual memory loss and behavioral changes. It is characterized by the formation of beta-amyloid plaques and the tau proteins in the brain tissues, years before the actual symptoms occur.

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‘Tau protein accumulation that leads to memory loss in Alzheimer's disease seems to progress at a 75% higher accumulation rate in women as compared to men. However, the reason for the higher rate of tau accumulation in women remains to be explored yet.’

It affects around 30 million people worldwide, making it the most common form of dementia. The first protein to aggregate in Alzheimer's is beta-amyloid. The first disease stage affects men and women are equal.

Tau Protein Accumulation

"Tau accumulation rates vary greatly between individuals of the same sex, but in the temporal lobe, which is affected in Alzheimer's disease, we found a 75% higher accumulation rate in women as a group compared to men," says Ruben Smith, first author of the study.

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Patients who already have a pathological accumulation of beta-amyloid show a faster accumulation of tau in the early phase of the disease. Even after adjusting for age and the levels of tau at the beginning, the accumulation rate of tau remained higher in women.

The study included 209 women and 210 men along with data from three similar cohorts in the USA. The team further plans to examine the reason for the higher rate of tau accumulation in women.

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"Our study strongly indicates that the faster spread of tau makes women more prone to develop dementia because of Alzheimer's pathology compared to men. Future experimental studies will be important to understand the reasons behind this," says, Professor Oskar Hansson.

Source-Medindia