New research may eventually help to slow the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducted an animal study on Alzheimer's. They found that they can show the accumulation of a protein associated with the progression of Alzheimer's by targeting the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier protects the brain by separating the brain from circulating blood. It removes toxic metabolites and proteins in the brain and prevents toxic 
In patients with Alzheimer's, beta-amyloid proteins are deposited in the brain, which then clump and form plaques, destroying neurons and leading to cognitive impairment. By targeting a receptor called the pregnane X receptor, or PXR, researchers were able to slow the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brains of mice.
Researchers treated genetically modified mice with human beta-amyloid protein and treated them with a steroid-like chemical, successfully reducing the beta-amyloid protein in the brain. This was found to increase a protein called P-glycoprotein in the blood-brain barrier, which is used to transport beta-amyloid out of the brain.
