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[|Medical News Today] February 26, 2009

Researched at Yale University have made a a discovery that fills in a missing gap in the confuzing and uncurable Alzheimer's disease. It was published in the February addition of the journal Nature that the Yale teams reports that cellular prion proteins trigger the process by which amyloid-beta peptides block brain function in Alzheimer's patients.

A cellular prion is a cellular protein infectious agent associated with several neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease. It is usually harmless, however, it can go crazy and out of control causing diseases. Amyloid-beta peptides are the peptides that kills from both the outside and inside of the cell to produce Alzheimer's disease. A peptide is a compund containing two or more amino acids in which carboxl goup of one acid is linkied to the amino goup of the other.

With this discovery, scientists are one step closer to finding a cause and cure for Alzheimer's disease. It effects so many people in our world, therefore, making this exsposure beneficial to those who suffer from this disease. These cellular prion proteins act at an early stage of disease development, making the receptors a promising target for new Alzheimers therapies.