Dementia Research Over the next decade, there will be an injection for Alzheimer's

An injection that can stop Alzheimer's

The UK's leading dementia organization "The Alzheimer's Society" recently predicted that there would be an injection within the next decade that could halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease. A series of breakthroughs in gene research have brought science to a turning point.

For decades, researchers have been unsuccessfully seeking treatment for Alzheimer's disease, which, according to numerous predictions, is becoming a growing problem in the aging population. Dr. James Pickett, research director of Alzheimer's Society, recently told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that in less than 10 years, there will be an injection that stops harmful proteins that lead to brain deposits and causes Alzheimer's be valid.

The Alzheimer's puzzle has been a science concern for decades. According to Britain's leading dementia organization "The Alzheimer's Society", important pieces of the puzzle have been added in 2018, which have almost completed the picture. (Image: goa novi / fotolia.com)

Change the communication of the genes

"2019 will be a turning point for dementia gene therapy," predicts Pickett. The new treatment aims to ensure that genes known to be involved in dementia change the way they communicate, but without changing a person's genetic code. The gene therapy can help especially people, in which the Alzheimer's disease is detected early.

The Alzheimer's Puzzle

Although the causes of dementia are still not clearly identified, there were a number of breakthroughs in 2018 that are increasingly deciphering the Alzheimer's mystery. "There are many different pieces of the puzzle that come together," says Pickett. At present, Alzheimer's research identifies 25 genes that significantly increase a person's risk of Alzheimer's. In 2012, researchers knew only one gene.

Protein regulation in the brain

The new Alzheimer treatments aim to use genes to regulate the activity of harmful beta-amyloid and tau proteins in the brain. Similarly, a gene therapy study at University College London has shown promising results in patients with Huntington's disease. Due to the gene regulation, the content of toxic proteins could be reduced. Pickett.

Just before the breakthrough

This form of gene research is called CRISPR. (Clustered Regular Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). The head of Alzheimer's Society wants to recruit even more CRISPR researchers to drive forward the fight against Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's expert also points to a promising study on the regulation of tau proteins to be completed in January 2020. He sees in this study a potential building block for the development of broader therapies for dementia. (Vb)