Scientists Identify Alzheimer’s Enzyme

Scientists believe they have identified the chemical that turns a normal brain protein into the clumpy, toxic substance called amyloid plaque that is thought to damage brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients. The enzyme is called presenilin, and it is the same protein whose genes have recently been linked to the majority of cases of familial Alzheimer’s disease. The study, to be published in today’s issue of the journal Nature, might lead to the first treatments that target the core of the problem.