On 16 March, researchers from the University of Cambridge published a paper reporting that inflammation in the brain may be linked to frontotemporal dementia. This type of dementia preferentially affects two parts of the brain: the frontal and temporal lobes (at the front and side of the brain respectively). Previous research has linked brain inflammation - known as neuroinflammation - with disorders such as depression, psychosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
In the study, published in the journal Brain, the research team recruited 31 research participants with three different types of frontotemporal dementia and 14 healthy participants (control group). They underwent brain scans to identify areas of inflammation and aggregated proteins called tau and TDP-43, which play a role in dementia. Findings showed that areas of the brain with inflammation correlated with presence of aggregated proteins, which are linked to the disease. An increase in neuroinflammation corresponded with an increase of aggregated proteins in all three types of frontotemporal dementia. This was not the case for the people in the control group.
In addition, scientists analysed the brains of 12 people who had died of frontotemporal dementia. They had donated their brains for research to the Cambridge Brain Bank. Results showed that microglia (brain immune cells) markers were more common in areas with aggregated proteins, which also suggest a link between neuroinflammation and protein aggregation across the frontotemporal dementia spectrum.
https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awaa033/5803192
