AS and amyloidosis?

I'm confused by this press release:

Toronto freelance writer Michael Smith's account of the tragedy and perseverance that yielded powerful new drugs has earned this year's sanofi pasteur Medal for Excellence in Health Research Journalism.

His article, "A scientific whodunit", appeared in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada magazine University Affairs. It describes how the work of Queen's University biochemist Michael Axelrad was cut short in the 1970s by ankylosing spondylitis, a spinal inflammation that created a fatal build-up of amyloid deposits in his brain. His condition and fate became the focal point of ongoing research by Dr. Axelrad's colleagues, whose subsequent understanding of amyloid chemistry laid the foundation for new treatments of this neurological disease, as well as Alzheimer's and even atherosclerosis.

I'm confused because I haven't heard that amyloid deposits were an issue, and I've never heard ankylosing spondylitis referred to as a neurological disease before. Either there's something new for me to learn, or this is about something other than AS. I may have to track down a copy of this article.