researchers who make efforts to “discover” the secrets of the disease Alzheimer’s diseaseclaim to have made a very important discovery that could help protect people at risk for this type of dementia.

A man who, according to his family history, will begin to lose his memory when he is 40 or 50 years old, continued to function normally for decades, no matter what. As it turns out, this man was protected by a rare gene mutation that enhanced the function of a protein called reelin, which helps neurons communicate.

Scientists say understanding the effect of this gene change on the brain could help prevent Alzheimer’s in other people.

“This is a very important discovery,” said Dr. Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, professor of ophthalmology at Harvard. “This shows particularly clearly that adding more reelin to the brain can actually help patients.”

The study was published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

The enhanced coil seemed to protect a very specific part of the human brain, an area behind the nose called the entorhinal cortex.

Does it pave the way for a cure?

“Another important discovery in this particular case is that [η ενισχυμένη πρωτεΐνη] it doesn’t need to exist in the rest of the brain,” adds the professor.

The entorhinal cortex is especially sensitive to aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This is the area of ​​the brain that sends and receives signals related to the sense of smell, the loss of which is often a precursor to changes in the brain that lead to problems with memory and thinking.

“So when a person has Alzheimer’s, it starts in the entorhinal cortex and then spreads,” Arboleda-Velasquez says.

A group of Harvard scientists say they are already working to develop a treatment based on the new findings.

Dr. Richard Isaacson of Florida Atlantic University says studies like the one above show us something important: “In some cases, we can win a tug of war against our own genes.”

Could this mean a cure is just around the corner? This remains to be seen.

“Can we use research like this to strengthen and improve care? I hope so. I wouldn’t say we’re already there,” said the professor, who was not involved in the study. “Still, I think it’s an important study.”

^{Source: CNN}