A review on the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a well-known mental illness and memory loss is its most common symptom. Until now, the reason of AD has been an unsolved mystery, with the two most prominent previous hypotheses being -amyloid deposition and Tau protein phosphorylation. However, this year, a seminal paper studying the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis was found to be falsified, therefore, a large number of scientists have questioned the research value of this hypothesis. This paper is a review of the -amyloid precipitation hypothesis. The development of -amyloid precipitation hypothesis is described and previous studies on A*56, A42, and A40 are reviewed. It is concluded that -amyloid precipitation should continue to be studied. The author also argues that the falsification does not mean that the "amyloid" hypothesis is wrong; the only protein suspected of falsification is A*56. The A hypothesis can still be pursued because there are many other A oligomers that have been shown to be neurotoxic.