Living with Alzheimer’s disease can be more painful than anything. Not being able to perform simple activities or remember common things surely sounds like going through Hell, and if you don’t have a trustworthy person to take care of you while you’re in such a state, it all becomes even more horrifying.
SciTechDaily announces why the world might be wrong about Alzheimer’s, as researchers are beginning to question a prevailing theory after a new study. The news will surely get in the attention of many, as about 6.2 million people of all ages from the US are dealing with the most common form of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Therapies for Alzheimer’s should aim at restoring a brain protein
Scientists from the University of Cincinnati are saying that restoring a brain protein should be the target of therapies aiming to treat Alzheimer’s, not removing amyloid plaques. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Karolinska Institute of Sweden, and it claims that the treatment for Alzheimer’s might consist of normalizing the levels of the amyloid-beta peptide brain protein. The soluble form of the protein is needed in order to keep the brain healthy. However, a problem occurs when the protein hardens into amyloid plaques.
Alberto Espay, who is the senior author of the new study and also a professor of neurology at UC, said as cited by SciTechDaily:
It’s not the plaques that are causing impaired cognition,
Amyloid plaques are a consequence, not a cause.
Kariem Ezzat, a co-author of the study and a researcher from the Karolinska Institute, declared as also cited by SciTechDaily:
The key discovery from our analysis is that Alzheimer’s disease symptoms seem dependent on the depletion of the normal protein, which is in a soluble state, instead of when it aggregates into plaques.
The new study appears in the journal EclinicalMedicine.
