Since 1993, when the apolipoprotein E4 ( ApoE4 ) genetic variant was found to multiply the risk of the most common form of Alzheimer9s disease as much as fourfold, researchers have probed its connections to the protein fragment β-amyloid, the dominant suspect for the cause of the illness. This week, however, a new study showed that ApoE4 9s most toxic effects may result from a damaging immune response to a different protein, tau. The study shifts the terms of an old debate over whether Alzheimer9s disease treatments should focus on tau or amyloid, by suggesting both could be targeted through ApoE4 .

中文翻译：

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ApoE4 如何危害大脑

自 1993 年发现载脂蛋白 E4 (ApoE4) 遗传变异使阿尔茨海默病最常见形式的风险增加四倍以来，研究人员一直在探索其与蛋白质片段 β-淀粉样蛋白的联系，β-淀粉样蛋白是致病原因的主要嫌疑人的疾病。然而，本周，一项新研究表明，ApoE4 9 的最大毒性作用可能来自对不同蛋白质 tau 的破坏性免疫反应。该研究改变了关于阿尔茨海默病治疗是否应该关注 tau 蛋白或淀粉样蛋白的旧争论，建议两者都可以通过 ApoE4 进行靶向。