Alzheimer’s: women are more affected, a protein explains why.
C3, a modified immune protein harmful to the brain is more common in women. That’s why they are most affected by Alzheimer’s.
The cause is an immune protein, C3, is modified and harmful to the brain. It is found more commonly in women than men. Here’s why women are more affected by Alzheimer’s disease. This is confirmed by a study conducted in the USA by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Biochemical and molecular events were studied by the team, these are events that may underlie neurodegenerative diseases. Chemical reactions that form a modified type of complement C3 are understood. A process termed S-nistrosylation . Previously, there was the discovery that such a chemical reaction forms an ‘SNO-protein’. Modifications of proteins with atoms similar to this are commonplace in cells with the ability to turn on or off certain target functions.
In the new study, the research team quantified the proteins changed in some human brains after death. Half belonged to people who died of Alzheimer’s. In these brains, the experts identified 1,449 different proteins that had been S-nitrosylated. Among those modified in this way most often, some had already been identified in association with Alzheimer’s disease. The C3 protein was also present. Six times higher levels of nitrosylated protein were found, mostly in the brains of women with Alzheimer’s, than in men.
