In their study, published September 7 in the journal Science Translational Medicine, they found that a tetra-variable domain antibody targeting the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid 2 (TREM2) -- dubbed TREM2 TVD-lg -- reduced amyloid burden, eased neuron damage, and alleviated cognitive decline in the mice.

Previous research demonstrated that TREM2 plays an important role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the latest findings suggest that increasing TREM2 activation could have therapeutic effects such as improved cognition.

"We demonstrated the feasibility of engineering multivalent TREM2 agonistic antibodies coupled with TfR-mediated brain delivery to enhance microglia functions and reduce amyloid pathology in vitro and in vivo," co-senior author Ningyan Zhang, PhD, professor and co-director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, said in a statement. "This antibody engineering approach enables the development of effective TREM2-targeting therapies for AD."