A recent study published in Molecular Psychiatry has shown for the first time that amyloid-β protein (Aβ), which plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD), can be transmitted from animal to animal through the blood (in a model of parabiosis between transgenic AD mice and their wild-type littermates) and accumulates in the brains of wild-type mice, eventually leading to AD-type pathologies related to Aβ accumulation.
This important finding raises concerns about the possible transmission of this severe disease through blood transfusions.
Mol Psychiatry. 2017 Oct 31. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.204. [Epub ahead of print]
Blood-derived amyloid-β protein induces Alzheimer’s disease pathologies.
Bu XL1, Xiang Y1, Jin WS1, Wang J1, Shen LL1, Huang ZL2, Zhang K3, Liu YH1, Zeng F1, Liu JH4,5, Sun HL1, Zhuang ZQ1, Chen SH1, Yao XQ1, Giunta B6, Shan YC4, Tan J7, Chen XW3, Dong ZF2, Zhou HD1, Zhou XF8, Song W9, Wang YJ1.