Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent all of the time for research in how to detect Alzheimer’s earlier, exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, how to better treat Alzheimer’s and how to cure Alzheimer’s.

The researcher or company that finds answers to any of these stands to make billions of dollars, in addition to improving and saving lives. It is a very high stakes area of research and many lives lie in the balance.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve reported on a number of research projects that offer hope in some of the areas mentioned above.

Today, I’m reporting on another research breakthrough that could well open the door for other researchers to find the important answers they are so desperately working to find:

“Researchers in the UK and New Zealand have created the largest-ever database of protein expression changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published today (February 4) in Communications Biology. The data, which are freely available to researchers online, reveal new insights into the brain areas affected by Alzheimer’s, as well as the molecular pathways leading to the disease.”

“‘This database provides a huge opportunity for dementia researchers around the world to progress and to follow-up new areas of biology and develop new treatments,’ study coauthor Richard Unwin of the University of Manchester says in a statement. ‘It’s very exciting to be able to make these data public so scientists can access and use this vital information’.”

“The team analyzed the expression data of more than 5,500 proteins spanning six brain regions in postmortem tissue of nine healthy and nine Alzheimer’s-affected patients. The results provide a map of changes associated with the disease, identifying certain areas of the brain as more affected than others.”

“Heavily affected areas include the hippocampus, the entorhinal cortex, and the cingulate gyrus, the analysis showed. The researchers also found that the cerebellum, an area of the brain thought to be less damaged by Alzheimer’s disease, showed substantial changes in protein expression, but that these changes qualitatively differed from those in other regions.”

By mapping the regions affected by the proteins associated with Alzheimer’s, will help other researchers to focus on trying to find ways to treat or counter the proteins in those regions of the brain, instead of trying to focus on the entire brain.

Not only is mapping the regions of great significance, but the identification of the various proteins associated with Alzheimer’s is also of great significance. This gives other researchers more specific targets to focus their work on and hopefully, it will allow one or more of them to make that major breakthrough that so many are hoping for.