Approximately 5.4 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease, which causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. One of the characteristics of the disease is that a protein called tau forms clumps, or aggregates, in the brain.

"We have identified multiple new cellular processes that go awry in Alzheimer's disease because of pathological tau," said Bess Frost, Ph.D., assistant professor, Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "Each of these processes that connect tau with brain cell death are potential drug targets. This new knowledge will allow more informed development of therapies for the disease."

Frost will present these new findings at The Allied Genetics Conference, a meeting hosted by the Genetics Society of America.
Read the full story in Science Daily.