Mysterious brain clumps behind dementia identified

Mysterious brain clumps behind dementia identified.

Certain forms of dementia may be caused by a gene mutation that makes proteins in the brain clump together, a new study finds.

The most common cause of frontotemporal dementia and a motor neuron disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a genetic mutation that creates extra copies of a DNA sequence, but the actual mechanism of the diseases is unknown.

A team of researchers has now found that proteins, molecules that normally help cells function, are being produced from the mutated gene and appear to be causing the clumping seen in both those diseases.