Researchers have taken another step towards a complete understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease: "Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered an unsuspected subunit of the protein complex gamma-secretase, which plays a central role in Alzheimer's disease. The researchers have shown that the newly discovered component, the protein CD147, regulates the production of the toxic peptides that cause amyloid plaques, the brain lesions that are the defining feature of Alzheimer's." Understanding at this level, enabled by falling costs in modern biotechnology, is important because it enables scientists to work towards targeted, precise therapies.
Link: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/LSD-Alzheimers-switch.html