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Host response: A trigger for neurodegeneration?

Nature Microbiology volume 1, Article number: 16129 (2016) Cite this article

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A new study provides clues to the physiological function of amyloid-β (Aβ), the plaque-forming peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease and finds a role for Aβ in fighting infection in the brain, by entangling pathogens in a web of amyloid fibrils. These data add to a growing appreciation of the role of microorganisms in neurodegenerative disease.

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Figure 1: A schematic of the hypothetical chain of events by which brain infection may lead to pathological amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) plaque formation in the brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roman M. Stilling and John F. Cryan are at APC Microbiome Institute & Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.,

    Roman M. Stilling & John F. Cryan

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  1. Roman M. Stilling
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  2. John F. Cryan
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Correspondence to John F. Cryan.

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Stilling, R., Cryan, J. Host response: A trigger for neurodegeneration?. Nat Microbiol 1, 16129 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.129

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