Why Alzheimer’s Inflammation Rarely Shuts Off
One of the most difficult aspects of Alzheimer’s disease is not what happens, but why it continues.
In healthy biology, inflammation follows a predictable pattern: activation, resolution,and repair. It turns on when needed, and just as importantly, it turns off.
In Alzheimer’s, that off-switch often fails.
Research over the past decade has highlighted the role of a regulatory molecule called Galectin-3, a protein involved in immune signaling and cellular communication. Galectin-3 does not cause Alzheimer’s in isolation. Rather, it appears to stabilize and reinforce inflammatory signaling, keeping immune cells in an activated state long after the original trigger has passed.
This phenomenon is sometimes described as immune lock-in.
When immune cells remain locked in an activated posture, they stop behaving like repair crews and begin behaving like chronic responders. Over time, this persistent signaling alters the brain’s environment, affecting neuronal resilience, clearance mechanisms, and functional stability.
This helps explain why many Alzheimer’s therapies that focus only on symptoms or late-stage findings struggle to change outcomes. They are working downstream, while the signal that sustains progression remains active upstream.
Understanding this biology does not create certainty, but it does create coherence. It explains why decline often continues despite compliance, support, and best intentions.
Modern investigation is now asking a different question: not just what accumulates in Alzheimer’s, but what keeps the immune system engaged when it should stand down.
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