CONFERENCE COVERAGE SERIES
International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 1998
Amsterdam, Netherlands
18 – 23 July 1998
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Mechanisms of Neurodegenerative Conditions I
Perhaps one of the most striking features of the conference this year, reflecting the state of research on AD in general, is the continued absence of a clear consensus on what is the most relevant neuropathological change in AD...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Genetics I
This session was disappointing, offering nothing really new. What new data were presented appear to be very controversial...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Monkey Brain Injections
Bruce Yankner took time out from his talk on Down's syndrome (Abstract 7) to discuss his recent injection studies in young versus aged rhesus monkeys, published in the July issue of Nature Medicine...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Cellular/Animal Models I
Soto (Abstract 295) presented data documenting the ability of their 11 and 5 amino-acid inhibitors to inhibit initial Aβ peptide aggregation and its ability to dissociate already formed Aβ fibrils in vitro...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Mechanisms of Neurodegenerative Conditions II
Alonso et al. (Abstract 590) reviewed the role of tau proteins in tubulin polymerization. There are six tau isoforms in the human brain. Three have three microtubule-binding domains (3R) and the three others have four microtubule-binding domains (4R)...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Towards the Next Generation of AD Therapeutics
This roundtable session, supported by a grant from SmithKline Beecham and cochaired by G. Wilcock (Bristol, UK) and R. Kumar (Essex, UK), sought to provide a glimpse of future directions for the development of new therapeutic agents for AD...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Mahley Plenary Lecture
B. Mahley (Abstract 303) reported new data on transgenic mice that could help elucidate the role of ApoE isoforms in neurodegeneration. He began his lecture with an overview of the structure and function of apolipoprotein E (ApoE)...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Mechanisms of Neurodegerative Conditions III
Aβ's fibril-formation processes were revealed in a tour de force of atomic force microscopy by Harper (Abstract 909). The initial species to be detected are four nm globular assemblies...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Pathology I
Three abstracts presented during this session, as well as those by Vincent et al. (Abstract 594) and Arendt et al. (Abstract 595), indicate that cell cycle and mitotic mechanisms may be a key factor in the understanding of tau phosphorylation...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Molecular Interactions in AD Pathogenesis
The "great amyloid debate" appeared to resolve at least one issue in the rather contentious arena of defining the critical neuropathological events in AD...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Development of Aβ Peptide Inhibitors
If you came to Amsterdam hoping to hear a lot of new data on Aβ peptide inhibitors, you might have learned more by window shopping in the red-light district...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Roundtable C: Metabolism and Alzheimer's
Over a decade ago, John Blass and his colleagues proposed that AD was caused by compromised metabolism. Today, this theory has gained support from a convergence of numerous...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Satellite Symposium on AD7c-NTP
The focus of this symposium was the biology and diagnostic value of a recently discovered protein, termed AD7c-neuronal thread protein (NTP), in Alzheimer's disease...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Aging Astrocytes: A Role in AD?
Yamaguchi (Abstract 1245) presented his theory that very diffuse plaques within nondemented individuals are cleared by astrocytic phagocytosis. He showed many examples of very diffuse Aβ-positive staining...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Fibril-busting Mystery Herb
While a number of drug companies have been pumping big bucks into creating novel molecules capable of inhibiting formation of Aβ fibrils, along comes Alan Snow and his colleagues...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Presenilin-binding Proteins Abound
Because presenilin was discovered in positional cloning experiments involving large familial Alzheimer's disease kindreds, there were no previous data concerning its biological function. As a result...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Search for Late-Onset AD Genes
A study published last year by Margaret Pericak-Vance et al. (JAMA 1997;278) reported a putative locus for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) at chromosome 12p11-12, and set off a race to confirm and nail down the gene...
Sixth Int. Conference on AD: Scientists Smitten by Mad Tau Disease
A new epidemic of "mad tau disease" swept Amsterdam at the workshop on Hereditary Fronto-Temporal Dementia and Pick's disease. Fronto-temporal dementia and Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17...