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ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Holey BBB

Targeting tight junctions in AD

October 8, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

A study from Trinity College Dublin has shown that reducing the levels of two tight junction proteins can loosen the blood-brain barrier and let soluble β-amyloid monomers slip out of the brain through the spaces in between cells.

The Trinity College team, led by Matthew Campbell, used siRNAs to simultaneously knockdown claudin 5 (CLDN5) and occludin (OCLN), the two most prevalent tight junction proteins, in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The manipulation opened up the paracellular pathway to proteins up to 4 kDa in size, allowing β-amyloid monomers, but not dimers, to diffuse down the concentration gradient out of the brain and into the blood...