BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Toll-erating AD

January 31, 2013 8:00 AM UTC

Universite Laval and GlaxoSmithKline plc have shown that peripheral administration of the adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A can help treat Alzheimer's disease in mice.1 Although the findings point to a potential immunomodulatory approach for addressing the neurodegenerative disorder, the pharma is now focusing on elucidating the mechanism before advancing the program.

The joint academic-industry team made the discovery while examining the interplay between the innate immune system and AD pathology. The group looked at how activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a sensor of bacterial lipids, affects the activity of microglia, which are brain-specific innate immune cells...