News Release

Alzheimer's disease, neuroinflammation, and seizures

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Researchers report that mice deficient in the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL18 experienced increased mortality resulting from increased seizure activity and exhibited increased excitatory synaptic protein expression, dendritic spine density, and basal excitatory synaptic transmission, compared with controls in a study using a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD), suggesting that targeting individual cytokines for AD treatment might have unintended harmful side effects.

Article #18-01802: "Inflammasome-derived cytokine IL18 suppresses amyloid-induced seizures in Alzheimer-prone mice," by Te-Chen Tzeng et al.

MEDIA CONTACT: Douglas T. Golenbock, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA; tel: 508-856-5982; e-mail: douglas.golenbock@umassmed.edu

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