T21RS Webinar – Sept 16, 2024

T21RS is pleased to invite you to the free webinar hosted by the Education and Training Committee.

Dr. Ruben Vidal, Indiana University School of Medicine, USA

will present the topic:

“Similarities in protein structures between Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome”

More than 90% of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer disease (AD) by 55–60 years of age, and sometimes as young as 40 years.

The AD neuropathological phenotype is characterized by deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau filaments. We used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to study the structure of Aβ and tau filaments extracted from the brains of two people with DS. The presence of Aβ together with tau filaments that are structurally identical to those in AD support for the first time the notion of a common mechanism leading to AD in DS. Our study suggests that individuals with DS might benefit from therapies aimed at preventing or removing brain amyloid as well as tau.

Additional work is needed to determine whether in DS, vascular Aβ filaments respond differently to current amyloid therapies for AD.

Dr. Vidal’s important work was recently published “Cryo-EM structures of amyloid-beta and tau filaments in Down syndrome” in Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2024 (LINK)

Date: Monday, Sept 16, 2024

Time: 6:00 PM Central Europe Time (12 AM USA Eastern Time)

To attend, please click LINK.

We look forward to you joining our Webinar!