Researchers from the University of Sydney recently released a major breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research. The team created a compound that prevents two Alzheimer’s proteins from combining.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia. Early symptoms include memory failures and depression, while in the later stages of the disease patients experience drastic personality changes as well as difficulty with basic motor functions such as walking and swallowing.
Although there is no single accepted theory for the cause of Alzheimer’s, deposits of fragmented and twisted proteins called plaques and tangles are usually found in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers. The researchers at Sydney have discovered a new interaction between the two sets of proteins and created a therapy that alters the protein, Tau, which is responsible for creating the tangles. Successful modification of Tau also prevents other proteins from fragmenting and creating the disease-causing plaques.
Even the best modern Alzheimer’s medications and therapies only hope to slow the progression of the disease and manage some of its more severe symptoms. This new research has a chance of completely revolutionizing the way the disease is treated. Instead of focusing on the symptoms, the new treatment targets the underlying causes of the disease and stops neural degeneration at its source.
Researchers genetically modified a group of mice to ensure they would develop Alzheimer’s and injected them with drugs designed to prevent the development of the pair of harmful proteins. Incredibly, none of the mice treated with the new drug developed Alzheimer’s.
I was especially glad to hear about this ground-breaking research because I’ve had personal experience with Alzheimer’s and its terrible effects.
My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and once he could barely recognize his own wife of more than 50 years, we had to move him to a nursing home. I can barely describe the sense of soul-crushing depression that permeates severe Alzheimer’s wards.
Patients wander the halls aimlessly, passing their visiting loved ones without recognizing them and forgetting where they were going before they reach their destination.
The disease completely destroyed my grandfather’s personality, emotions and relationships. My family and I would visit him when we were in town for holidays and other family gatherings, but we always felt completely helpless. We hoped that somehow our presence would help him, and at the very least, sustain my grandmother as she underwent this unimaginably difficult ordeal.
In our youth-centered, consumer-driven society, Alzheimer’s doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. Almost by definition, the disease affects the elderly. Unfortunately, too many of us would prefer to ignore seniors, but many people change their tune when thinking about their own aging loved ones or even themselves.
Most college students have parents or grandparents that are approaching their 60s or 70s, a crucial time when many symptoms of Alzheimer’s reveal themselves. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in eight Americans older than 65 have the disease. Currently, 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and the number of cases is projected to double in the next 40 years.
While many other leading causes of death have seen significant declines during the last decade, Alzheimer’s related fatalities have only increased. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, from 2000 to 2006, there was a 46 percent increase in Alzheimer’s fatalities while deaths due to heart disease, stroke and breast cancer all decreased.
Of course, any new drug is still years away from drug store shelves because it has to be modified for use in humans and pass Food and Drug Administration regulations and clinical trials. But Lars Ittner and the rest of his team still deserve our congratulations and thanks for the important strides they have made ridding our world of this terrible disease.
Andrew Shockey is a 19-year-old biological engineering sophomore from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_Aschockey.
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Contact Andrew Shockey at [email protected]