New insight into how brain cells die in Alzheimer's and FTD

(Emory Health Sciences) Removal of a regulatory gene called LSD1 in adult mice induces changes in gene activity that that look unexpectedly like Alzheimer's. Another surprise: LSD1 is tangled up in brain samples from humans with Alzheimer's and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), suggesting LSD1 as a central downstream player in these diseases and a drug target.