Alzheimer's disease risk gene APOE4 impairs function of brain immune cells
A study carried out with a new human stem cell-derived model reveals that the most prevalent genetic risk factor of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4), impairs the function of human brain immune cells, microglia. These findings pave the way for new, effective treatment approaches for AD. The results were published in Stem Cell Reports. The study of human microglia has been hindered by the considerable challenges of isolating sufficient numbers of viable microglia from human brain tissue. The new study presents a protocol to differentiate patient-derived stem cells to