More On Microglia and Alzheimer's
You might recall research suggesting that more or different microglia could be used to attack amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's. Here is a different slant on this branch of inquiry from Ouroboros: "Why do amyloid plaques cause Alzheimer's disease? While it would seem to be self-evident that neurons would prefer not to be surrounded by tangled forest of malfolded, insoluble protein deposits, the mechanism by which these plaques cause neuronal death remains an active subject of inquiry. ... What if the primary action of amyloid plaques is on another type of cell entirely - such as the ubiquitous, essential, yet still poorly understood neuronal support cell, the microglia? Flanary et al. argue that the presence of amyloid plaques accelerates the process of microglial senescence. ... The authors do not demonstrate a direct connection to Alzheimer's pathology, but it's easy to build a model in which senescent microglia contribute to cell death." As noted in the post, a connection between Alzheimer's and senescent cells would boost research aimed at the targeted destruction of those cells - which is one strand of the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence.
Link: http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2007/10/06/a-role-for-microglial-senescence-in-alzheimers/