In 1906, Dr. Eloy's Alzheimer spoke of a female patient with, quote, an unusual disease

of the cerebral cortex.

Her symptoms included memory loss, disorientation, and hallucinations.

After she died at age 50, an autopsy revealed that her cerebral cortex was unusually thin

and contained what are now known as amyloid plaques, which previously had only been observed

in elderly people.

The autopsy also showed tangled threads of protein inside the neurons.

A few years later, a colleague would name this constellation of symptoms and brain changes

Alzheimer's disease.

More than 6 million people in the US currently live with Alzheimer's disease, and that number

is expected to reach 13 million by 2050.

The disease isolates its patients in a twilight world of forgetfulness, confusion, and agitation.

To this day, a defining feature of the disease has been the presence of abnormal plaques and

protein tangles in the brain.

Researchers, hunting for treatments, have looked to those plaques and tangles as likely

targets.

We don't entirely know what role they play in the disease's progression, if any.

If you intervene before any significant brain changes have occurred, can you stave off

the amyloid and then the other downstream effects?

That's still an open question.

Dr. Pierterio is an Alzheimer's disease physician and researcher.

He's been searching for answers to this question for a while.

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