New Mayo Clinic Research Reveals Molecular Clues to Alzheimer’s Disease

Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered molecular signatures of blood-brain barrier dysfunction in Alzheimer’s, offering new avenues for diagnosis and treatment based on extensive tissue analysis and cellular studies.

The blood-brain barrier — a network of blood vessels and tissues that nurtures and protects the brain from harmful substances circulating in the blood — is disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at Mayo Clinic, along with their collaborators, have identified unique molecular signatures of this dysfunction, potentially leading to new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the disease. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

“These signatures have high potential to become novel biomarkers that capture brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease,” says senior author Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Mayo Clinic and leader of the Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease and Endophenotypes Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Florida.