What can be the cause of Alzheimer's disease?

The exact causes for the development and development of Alzheimer's disease are so far unclear. It is known that a number of factors, such as age, heredity and various diseases play a role. Researchers are now targeting two proteins. These could be the key to successful therapy.

Various factors play a role
The purse is not on the table, but in the fridge and the glasses are placed in the bin: Alzheimer begins slowly and is often diagnosed late. Although a number of factors have been identified that play a role in the development and development of Alzheimer's disease. These include, inter alia, a high age, a genetic predisposition, diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2, metabolic syndrome, oxidative stress or inflammation. Definitive causes are still unclear. A healing method is not yet known. But recently, scientists have reported on ultrasound as a glimmer of hope in Alzheimer's. According to an article in The World, a new study in healthy seniors looks at how the combination of two proteins in the brain behaves. This could be the key to a successful therapy, which probably has to start early.

Alzheimer's therapy should begin much earlier. (Image: sudok1 / Fotolia)

1.2 million Alzheimer's patients in Germany
Worldwide, 35 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia. According to estimates, there are 1.2 million Alzheimer's patients in Germany. In the search for the triggers, the research focuses mainly on the senile plaques, deposits of fragments of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain. However, the fibrous deposits consisting of the tau protein, the so-called neurofibrillary tangles, also play a role in the development of memory lapses, according to autopsy studies. With the help of modern imaging techniques, these bundles can also be made visible to living people. This may be a chance to identify the triggers of dementia. And based on that, a new drug could ward off Alzheimer's in still healthy but vulnerable people.

Two proteins are deposited in the brain of older people
So-called Tau scans are the focus of the new so-called A4 study ("Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's"). According to the researchers, the scientists want to monitor how the two proteins amyloid and tau are deposited in the brain of older people, long before they have memory lapses. Neurosurgeon Reisa Sperling of Harvard University Medical School said, "The combination of amyloid and tau is truly a toxic duo." Sperling leads the A4 study with participants from the US, Australia, and Canada. "It is impressive to observe this." Overall, 1,000 healthy senior citizens are to be included in the study. Among them is the 77-year-old Judith Gilbert, who worked for the government for a long time and recently retired. Although she has no mental deficits, she learned from the study that plaques from the beta-amyloid peptide have accumulated in her brain. This increases the risk of getting Alzheimer's. She was then screened for the tau protein with a PET scanner. "We know that dew comes into play at some point, but we do not know when," explained the scientific director of the American Alzheimer's Association, Maria Carrillo.

WPerhaps the treatment has not been started soon enough
It is said that previous tests with drugs that target the protein amyloid have not been successful. Maybe also because the treatment was not started soon enough. Scientists assume that Alzheimer's begins silently, over ten years before the first symptoms appear. Brain examinations show that many healthy seniors also carry the plaques. Although this is not a guarantee that they will one day get Alzheimer's, there is a heightened risk for them. Recent studies, such as a large Mayo Clinic autopsy study, also suggest that tau protein plays a crucial role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. According to the latest theory, amyloid poses a risk, but the subsequent deposition of dew accelerates the destruction in the brain. It is therefore the combination of both deposits that may trigger the disease. The tau protein usually serves as a kind of railroad track that helps nerve cells to transport molecules. The strands of protein collapse during Alzheimer's disease and create a clutter. Eventually the cell dies. After the age of 70, most healthy people have a small amount of dysfunction in the brain. However, the amyloid plaques cause this altered tau to spread to the memory center of the brain.

Drug is said to slow mental decline
The A4 study is now to provide more insight. Up to 500 people will be examined three times for three years on dew. The researchers want to find out when and how the protein forms in the healthy study participants. The subjects will not know the result. Not enough is known about the actual role of tau protein in the development of the disease. All participants in the study receive either the experimental drug solanezumab with antibodies to beta-amyloid or a placebo. While solanezumab did not help patients with fully developed Alzheimer's disease in previous studies, it did appear to slow the mental decline in patients with a milder form. Therefore, researchers are interested in the effects of the drug on healthy seniors. The US $ 140 million study will be funded by, among others, the US Department of Health and US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Company. The costs for the Tau scans were taken over by the Alzheimer's association based in Chicago. (Ad)