From the article:
Professor Cliff Abraham and Dr Anurag Singh from the Department of Psychology have identified that a protein in the brain – tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) – normally associated with inflammation, becomes abnormally active in the Alzheimer’s brain, impairing the memory mechanism.
The overproduction of this protein (TNFα) may be one of the reasons behind the disease-related impairments of memory formation in the brain.
“While TNFα has been linked previously with Alzheimer’s and memory studies, it has not been understood that neural overactivity can drive the production of this protein to inhibit memory mechanisms in the brain,” Professor Abraham, a Principal Investigator with the University’s Brain Health Research Centre, explains.