Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes: Synthetic peptides may suppress formation of harmful amyloid aggregates

In Alzheimer’s disease, the degeneration of brain cells is linked to formation of toxic protein aggregates and deposits known as amyloid plaques. Similar processes also play an important role in type 2 diabetes. A research team under the lead of the Technical University of Munich has now developed “mini-proteins,” so-called peptides, which are able to bind the proteins that form amyloids and prevent their aggregation into cytotoxic amyloids.