Scientists identify STING switch driving inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease

The brain has its own immune system, which detects threats and mounts a defense. A growing body of evidence has shown that in Alzheimer's disease, those immune cells are chronically overactivated, causing inflammation that damages the connections between brain cells.

Now, in a preclinical study using human Alzheimer's brain cells, scientists at Scripps Research have identified a molecular switch-and potential drug target-responsible for driving that chronic inflammation.

The research, published in Cell Chemical Biology on April 23, 2026, centers on a protein called STING, which normally functions as part of the immune system's early-warning system. In the brains of people with Alzheimer's, the team discovered that STING undergoes a chemical modification known as S-nitrosylation (or SNO, a reaction involving sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen) that promotes its overactivation. Blocking this chemical change to STING in a mouse model of the disease decreased neuroinflammation.

This is a new and important therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. It's exciting to see that blocking this switch in mice reduces inflammation and protects the very brain cell connections that are lost in Alzheimer's, especially because we found the same pathway to be activated in human Alzheimer's brain samples and in human stem cell-derived models."