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One of the most important factors that underlie degeneration of neurons in an Alzheimer's disease patient brain is massive inflammation.

Inflammation is a natural reaction of the body to toxins, bacteria, and foreign particles. Cytokines are the messengers during inflammation and carry information between different cells. In the first part of the grant, using novel molecular biology techniques, the team of Drs. Chakrabarty and Sahara will try to understand whether the levels of cytokines and other related proteins are altered during the progressive development of abnormal brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models.
Further, using different classes of cytokines in the brains of these mice, the team will explore whether one class of cytokines ('inflammatory') drive the disease and kill neurons in the process, whereas the opposing kind ('anti-inflammatory' cytokines) improves the disease and are protective.