Medical researchers are thrilled over the results of a newly completed study into how Alzheimer’s takes hold in the human body. Marc Diamond, a primary collaborator on this new Alzheimer’s study describes the results of this study as…

"This is perhaps the biggest finding we have made to date even though effective clinicals may not materialize for several years. The study has been a big win because it changes much of how we think about the disease and as a result, how to beat it.”

Most research into Alzheimer's focuses on a specific protein called amyloid beta. A clumping of that protein is suspected as being the primary pathological cause of the disease's symptoms. But after many different clinical trial failures in drugs designed to target those amyloid beta plaques, some scientists have turned their attention and research towards alternative approaches including new research on a completely different protein.

The different protein, called tau, has been found to form abnormal clumps in the brain, called neurofibrillary tangles, which can accumulate and kill neurons. More and more researchers are beginning to hypothesize that this is actually the primary causative source of Alzheimer's disease.

When and how Alzheimer's disease develops has been a mystery. So the new study on these tau proteins and how they begin to accumulate into tangles in the brain is starting to catch the attention of the medical community.