United States: Are the basic assumptions that we make about the factors facilitating the development of Alzheimer’s disease accurate? New research suggests yes.
As reported by Newsweek, for years, the widely accepted view about the occurrence of this neurodegeneration was the presence of insoluble proteins within and around our nerve cells. What was believed to be one of the major constituents of such protein deposits was a protein called amyloid beta, or amyloid beta 42, that together formed structures called amyloid plaques. However, recent research done at the University of Cincinnati put doubt in this hypothesis.
I later realized that the majority of people with amyloid plaques do not have Alzheimer’s disease,” said Alberto Espay, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center professor of neurology. “Therefore, despite amyloid plaques being characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, only one fifth of those with the plaques is afflicted by the disease when they are 85 years old”.
This proposition contradicts a previous finding from Espay’s lab which posited that Alzheimer’s disease is not caused by the plaques. It would rather seem to happen when there is not enough Aβ42 in the brain.
“Aβ42 is a protein that protects our brain from toxic and infectious agents,” Espay added. In the course of gestation, it turns into amyloid plaques. Amyloid plaques is comprised of aggregated Aβ42. Once in amyloid, Aβ42 ceases to function (the plaques can be seen as the epitaph of Aβ42).
In other words, Espay said that Alzheimer’s is a disease of loss: We lose Aβ42, as every person with Alzheimer disease has low levels of Aβ42 while most of us harbor amyloid plaques in our brain and no cognitive deficits.
The current treatments for Alzheimer are associated with amyloid plaque formation. But according to Espay, it seems the drugs provide the symptom relief anyway, although it may not be directly cause by the medication. In a new study published in the ‘Brain’, Espay and colleagues having used data from 26000 individuals into 24 randomised clinical trials that aimed at investigating the impact of new Alzheimer’s treatments.