The Role of Amyloid Plaques in Alzheimer's Disease

In Alzheimer's disease, there are things called amyloid plaques and also neurofibrillary tangles. These clumps of misfolded proteins in the brain can't be broken down or removed by the body. One theory is that the purpose of APP, this amyloid precursor protein, is to help repair neurons and also to help them grow. So they're coming up with all these treatments to find how to break them down at a rate where it's not damaging the brain.