As many of us are aware, there are hundreds of diseases that are present in our world. Some of these diseases have cures, however many of the worlds most prevalent diseases are unable to be cured and are a threat to the health and wellness of our society. One of the most prevalent and famous examples of an incurable disease is Alzheimer's disease. So why is this disease unable to be cured and what avenues are healthcare professionals exploring in order to cure this disease?
So what causes Alzheimer's? How is this disease able to cause memory loss? According to this article, the proposed factors that cause Alzheimer's are amyloid plaque build up and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaque build up occurs because there are enzymes involved in the formation of amyloid precursor protein (APP), which are beta and gamma secretase. These enzymes separate APP in a way that allows amyloid to build up in the brain causing cells to die. Neurofibrillary tangles on the other hand are formed because of over phosphorylated tau proteins, which cause these proteins to wrap around each other preventing the transportation of electrical signals between neurons. While scientists believe that these two factors are the most probable causes of Alzheimer's, there are hundreds of other factors that have been found that could lead to Alzheimer's. Thus, it is hard to pinpoint the exact cause of the disease, which makes it difficult for scientists to develop a cure.
However, while there is no cure currently for Alzheimer's, there are some treatments that are being developed that are aimed at treating some of the aspects of the disease. According to this article, the majority of the treatments that are being developed by healthcare professionals are called disease modifying treatments (DMT's), which are designed to modify the progression of the disease rather than treating the symptoms. Most of these DMT's are designed to modify some of the proposed causes of the disease discussed earlier in this post. Some of DMT's that are currently being tested are failing because they either have dangerous side effects or the results from animals studies are unable to determine if the DMT could be effective in humans. It is also hard to recruit human subjects for long term experiments. These factors all contribute to why there is no current cure for Alzheimer's.
At the end of the day, while there are only limited things we can do to combat Alzheimer's, the drugs that have already been developed are able to help patients and their caregivers through this horrible disease. During my time as my father's caregiver, these drugs allowed me to have my father back for a few moments and made the task of caring for him much easier. Like many other families, this disease took someone very special from me, and I pray that one day a cure will be developed.
Posted by Nicholas Georgette (5)
My current knowledge on Alzheimer's disease is that it's a disease that is caused from protein mis-folding. An accumulation of abnormally folded proteins within the brain leads to this heartbreaking degenerative brain failure. Do you think that if a method was designed to target and fix this mis-folding, that it could eventually lead to a cure?
ReplyDeletePosted by Lauren Shone
Yeah, I agree with Lauren. We have actually just learned about this and its largely thought to be caused by build up of grey matter in the brain as a result of misfolded proteins never being refolded. DMT is a very interesting molecule, and it is largely unknown and unstudied. I have doubts that it would help someone who already has alzhiemers, but I have read quite a bit about how psychedelic compounds found in mushrooms have been proven to help people suffering from debilitating cluster headaches. So, who knows. But it is definitely something that needs to be studied further.
ReplyDeleteLiz Clark
Hi Liz, thank you for you comment! I was not aware that cluster headaches existed prior to your comment. However, you got me thinking about if mushrooms could have any affect Alzheimer's. After doing a little bit of reading, I found that there are already a few studies that have conducted research on how mushrooms could affect Alzheimer's. As it turns out, people who eat a lot mushrooms can reduce the likelihood of developing cognitive impairments, which is usually a warning sign of Alzheimer's. However, this study only showed a correlation between mushrooms and MCI (mild cognitive impairments). Maybe there is a chance that mushrooms can help in the prevention of the disease or in the future become a cure. If you want to read more about the findings and methods of the study, here is the link. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190312103702.htm)
DeletePosted by Nicholas Georgette (5)
Thanks so much for sharing that about yourself. It takes a lot of strength to be vulnerable like that. I think a lot about these types of brain diseases and the ways that we are approaching them. I always wonder if we are looking in the wrong places for answers. I know it's cliche but I wonder if approaching it with a holistic approach would lead us to a new direction towards the answer.
ReplyDeletePosted by Lauren Mason
Hi Lauren thank you for your comment! I think that looking to approach Alzheimer's in a holistic manner is something that could be beneficial. There is actually a branch of medicine that focuses on prevention of diseases, and looking at a person holistically when trying to cure them. This type of approach to medicine focuses less on prescribing medications, and more on changing a person's life habits. This branch of medicine is called Osteopathic medicine. Maybe doctors can try this new holistic approach when looking at people at risk of Alzheimer's, and perhaps there is a chance that we can prevent the disease before it starts. It is definitely worth trying!
DeletePosted by Nicholas Georgette (5)
This was a very touching post, my grandmother also has Alzheimer's and it truly is a horrible disease. I remember learning about the molecular origins of the disease in cellular and molecular biology earlier this semester. I believe Alzheimer's can be classified as a prion disease, where a protein can adopt an abnormal mis-folded form, and induce confomational changes in normal proteins through protein-protein contact. This increasing amount of mis-folded proteins results in aggregation, and eventually neural cell death. The interesting thing about prion disease is that it could potentially be a normal function of the brain going arry. I wonder if specific protein targeting drugs that mimic chaperone proteins or small molecule therapies would be an effective treatment to ease the symptoms as well.
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