CHEMICAL engineers at the University of New Mexico, US, could offer hope to future Alzheimer's sufferers after discovering a possible cause for the characteristic twisted protein structures that form in patients' brains.In normal brains so-called tau proteins form tiny hollow structures that provide support and structure for cells but in Alzheimer's sufferers, this protein instead forms twisted clumps of protein called neurofibrillary tangles, which eventually kill the cell. Finding out why this twisting occurs - and how to stop it - could lead to a treatment for what is currently an incurable disease.
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