Genetic, Transcriptome, Proteomic, and Epidemiological Evidence for Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption and Polymicrobial Brain Invasion as Determinant Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease

Carter, Chris J.

Taking all of the above into consideration the combined data suggest that polymicrobial brain invasion, favored by environmentally-induced BBB defects and also by autoantibody blockade of the antimicrobial effects of A␤ in the periphery, may be responsible for AD. This could essentially be mediated via activation of an inflammatory network, and cytotoxic defense mechanisms including the call-up of cerebral A␤ that, as a consequence, causes massive neuronal destruction in a tissue incapable of regeneration. The role of the innate immune system and the inflammatory response in neurotoxicity has recently been reviewed, and innate surveillance mediated cell death has been suggested as a plausible common pathogenic pathway responsible for many neurodegenerative diseases, including AD [283] .