 | Bursting Neurons and Fading Memories Advances in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research have been challenging and without major breakthroughs in understanding its pathological basis. The reigning hypothesis suggests AD is the result of extracellular amyloid deposition that seed to form amyloid plaques, which then grow and kill neighboring neurons. However, there are several inconsistencies with this hypothesis, not to mention the inability to show clinical benefit in several failed clinical trials by pharmaceuticals (i.e., from Pfizer, Eli Lilly, etc.), and it is in the field's best interest to explore and test multiple hypotheses for pathology rather than drive the majority of research on this single amyloid theory. Reviewing many scientifically peer-reviewed publications, this book describes the "Inside-Out" hypothesis on how amyloid escapes the circulatory system through a dysfunctional blood-brain barrier to bind to the alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on pyramidal neurons. Over time, excessive amounts of amyloid appear to be internalized, resulting in neuron death and lysis. This simple mechanism readily explains plaque composition, size, shape, and location. Based on the current direction of research in the field, this hypothesis appears years from any research and development. Dr. D'Andrea has a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology and an MS in Molecular Biology. He has authored over 100 scientific publications, including invited review papers on Alzheimer's disease, and co-invented 11 patents. His technical expertise is in the areas of histopathology/neuropathology, immunohistochemistry, and image analysis. Since 1996, he was Team Leader and Principal Scientist of Target Validation Team at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development. There he discovered and validated novel targets, biomarkers, and compounds to treat cancer, inflammatory diseases, and Alzheimer's disease, and accepted numerous awards for these endeavors. Currently, he is president and histopathologist at Slidomics, LLC. He has presented is Alzheimer's research at the following sponsored international, national and regional meetings: Society of Neuroscience; International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders; The Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium; and International Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease & Related Disorders. In addition, he spoke at various meetings at the Annual Biological Staining Commission, The National Disease Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and was invited to lead the AlzForum's WebCast International discussion for the Alzheimer's Disease Forum on the evidence that neuronal cell death in AD is due to an autoimmune mechanism. He was also invited to the Challenging Views Of Alzheimer's Disease: Round II meeting to debate the inflammatory aspects of AD. In addition, he has reviewed international AD grants (Spain, Israel) and is on several scientific editorial boards. He was one of the first to publish the presence of intracellular A?42 in normal and AD neurons in 1999, first to hypothesize that plaques originate from neuronal lysis, first to report the presence of various plaques types in the AD brain, and first to provide morphological evidence of apoptotic neuronal death through an autoimmune mechanism in AD, suggesting that AD is an autoimmune disease. Most recently, he published a book entitled "Bursting Neurons and Fading Memories: An Alternative Hypothesis of the Neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease". Furthermore, Michael has animated the "Inside-Out" hypothesis that is available on YouTube. Currently, he continues to post discussions on the matter. |
