BIOBRIEF
A Stanford led study finds tau forces mitochondria to run electrons backwards, and a startup co founded by two of its authors is now testing whether blocking that flow could become a treatment.
For decades, Alzheimer's researchers have chased tangles of the protein tau, the clumps that build up in the brains of patients with the disease. A Stanford-led study published this week finds tau also attacks the cell's energy-producing structures, the mitochondria, by forcing them to run their electrons backwards.
Electrons flowing the wrong way through mitochondria generate reactive oxygen species, chemically reactive molecules that stress neurons and drive inflammation. The phenomenon is called reverse electron transport, and in the study, blocking that backwards flow improved learning and memory in fruit flies and mice, and made lab-grown human neurons and samples of patient brain tissue healthier.
No one has yet tested the intervention in living patients. The evidence sits on a species ladder: flies, mice, lab-grown human neurons, and postmortem brain tissue, not a clinical trial.
Two of the study's authors have started a biotech startup to translate the finding into a therapeutic approach. The work is preclinical, so what the company offers is a target, not a treatment.