New Research Finds That Alzheimer’s Spreads Like A Virus In The Brain

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Posted on 3rd February 2012 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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There’s been a lot of news about breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s disease research this week, including a Page One story in The New York Times Thursday about two new studies.

The separate research, done at Harvard and Columbia universities, found the Alzheimer’s spreads “like an infection from brain cell to brain cell,” which may be crucial in finding a way to treat the disease.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/health/research/alzheimers-spreads-like-a-virus-in-the-brain-studies-find.html?_r=1&hpw

As The Times explains it, there have been two theories about Alzheimer’s. One has been that it travels neuron to neuron in the brain. The other theory is that “some brain areas are more resilient than others and resist the disease longer,” The Times reported.

At the core of this is tau, a protein. Brain cells, dying and filled with tau, first show up in the part of the brain that governs memories. Then it appears that this tau spreads out to the parts of the brain related to reasoning.

The Harvard and Columbia research both involved mice, which were genetically engineered to make abnormal human tau protein, according to The Times. The mice could create that tau in an area of the brain, the entorhinal cortex, where cells usually first start dying of Alzheimer’s in humans. 

The mice did sustain brain damage in the cortex, but soon that damage spread like a virus to other parts of their brains.

“Since those other cells could not make human tau, the only way they could get the protein was by transmission from nerve cell to nerve cell,” The Times wrote.

Researchers now believe that Alzheimer’s spreads, like a virus, through a human brain the same way.   

If researchers can find a way to block the neuron-to-neuron spread of tau, and the production of another Alzheimer’s accomplice, beta amyloid, a hard plaque that forms in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s, they could stop the disease in its tracks, according to The Times.

The article also says that the new research may also be applicable and provide a possible treatment for those with Parkinson’s disease.

The Times story offers all the details of the research, which provides some hope on what has not been a very hopeful topic.   

  

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Regulating Metal In The Brain May Hold A Cure For Alzheimer’s

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Posted on 2nd February 2012 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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In the quest to find a cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, researchers are studying the impact of metals such as iron, copper and zinc on the brain, according to The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577192901072611524.html

This week The Journal reported on an Australian study, published  last Sunday, that discovered that getting rid of excess iron in the brain can temper the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in tests with mice. It’s hoped that the same can be shown to be true for humans.

The presence of higher-than-normal amounts of certain metals in the brain, namely iron and copper, are found in people who have Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, according to The Journal. In contrast, low levels of zinc seem to negatively impact memory, and if that metal gets into the wrong parts of the brain it can cause trouble.

In the past research on Alzheimer’s has focused on markers, or certain proteins, that are found in abundance in the brain’s of those with the disease. But The Journal suggests that studying the part that metals play in the brain’s functioning could provide another option for a possible cure.

The problem with metals and the brain is that as people age, the proper level of subsances such as iron or zinc becomes unbalanced. In the case of iron, for example, that metal is important because it helps the body generate energy, according to The Journal.  But iron also creates free radicals that can damage cells in the body.

Without enough iron, a person becomes anemic. But too much iron in the brain isn’t good, and high levels of that metal has been found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 

In the Australian research, aging mice who had Alzheimer’s symptoms also accumulated iron in their brains, The Journal reported. But when the mice were given a drug that got rid of the extra iron, their Alzheimer’s symptoms “reversed,” according to the story.

The article offers an interesting look at another link in the complicated path to finding a cure for dreaded Alzheimer’s.                    

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.