Alzheimer's May Not Start in the Brain

For years, experts thought Alzheimer's, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, originated in the brain. After all, it's the organ that takes the beating: Proteins build up in the brain, forming plaques or tangles that can damage cell function. And depending on which hypothesis you're reading up on, the critical damage that kick-starts symptoms comes from either beta-amyloid proteins, the traditional suspects, or tau proteins, a relatively new but increasingly popular pick for the potent