Investigating the role of an ‘Antenna protein’ as a potential risk factor in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease and is not a normal part of ageing.

As the disease progresses, connections between nerve cells in the brains die. But what triggers the loss of these connections is not well understood.

In this project, Prof Salinas from UCL is looking at a protein that acts as an antenna on the brain nerve cell surface allowing cells to receive signals.

In this Pilot Project, her team will use mice with features of Alzheimer’s to understand how this protein impacts the progression of the disease.

The team will look at the LRP6 protein and see how it impacts the integrity of nerve cell connections and the formation and composition of amyloid – the protein that is thought to be at the centre of how Alzheimer’s develops.

The teams’ early results show that this LRP6 mutation causes the loss of specific types of nerve cell connections, in mice with features of Alzheimer’s disease.

These studies will shed new light into the mechanisms that contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.