On Clearing Amyloid-Beta
At a level somewhere between root cause and symptoms, Alzheimer's is a failure of the mechanisms that clear out amyloid beta (AB) from a healthy brain. Amyloid creation and destruction is a rapid, dynamic process - but if clearance falls just a little behind, then Alzheimer's will develop. So a strategy one step better than patching up symptoms is to somehow improve natural clearance: researchers "discovered that the activity of a potent AB-degrading enzyme can be unleashed in mouse models of the disease by reducing its natural inhibitor cystatin C (CysC). All of us produce AB proteins in the brain. However, in most people, the proteins never build up to dangerous levels because they are cleared away by enzymes that destroy them. Previously Dr. Gan's laboratory had shown that cathepsin B (CatB) is such an AB-degrading enzyme. ... The activity of CatB is regulated by the protease inhibitor CysC. By reducing CysC activity, the scientists were able to unleash the AB-degrading power of CatB, effectively preventing the build-up of AB in [mice]."
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-10/gi-gsf102008.php