The aging brain: sleep, immunity, and what happens over time

Almost 1 in 10 of the over-65s have Alzheimer’s disease, and many more carers and family members are affected. What happens in the brain to cause this devastating disease? What strategies can we take to combat these processes? Will McEwan and Annabel Smith invite you to learn about their work: understanding the disease at the molecular level and harnessing the body’s immune system to destroy the protein clumps that build up in the brain, offering hope for new therapies.

Many diseases of aging involve the harmful build-up of toxic proteins in the brain. These disease-causing proteins are naturally made during wakefulness and decline during sleep, raising the question of whether unhealthy sleep is a risk factor for developing dementias later in life. Does a lack of sleep create a vicious cycle in which more wakefulness leads to more toxic proteins which leads to more neuronal damage? We will discuss the evidence for how sleep may slow the build-up and improve the clearance of these toxic proteins, with a particular focus on Alzheimer’s disease.