Alzheimer; News from the web:

Past research, mainly performed on animals, suggested the aggregates form in one region then spread throughout the brain, much like how cancer spreads.

The new study suggests that while such spread may occur, it’s not in fact the main driver of disease progression.

“Once we have these seeds, little bits of aggregate throughout the brain, they just multiply and that process controls the speed,” said Meisl.

An analogy from the COVID pandemic is how travel bans between nations generally proved ineffective at stopping the spread of the virus, because it was already replicating within the countries trying to keep it out.

The team was also able to determine the time it takes the aggregates to double in number — roughly five years. That is an “encouraging” figure, said Meisl, because it shows the brain’s neurons already are good at countering aggregates. 

“Maybe if we can make it just a tiny bit better we can significantly delay the onset of serious disease.”

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Alzheimer; News from the web:

The study, published in the journal Brain , found that the presence of a variant of the OAS1 gene increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by three to six per cent, while similar variants of the same gene increase the odds of contracting a case of severe COVID. In addition to presenting new possibilities for treatment, researchers hope this overlap may shed light on other infectious diseases and dementias.

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Alzheimer; News from the web:

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have been awarded a $4.6 million, five-year grant by the National Institute on Aging to study whether a potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment is safe and effective in improving cognitive function in young adults with Down syndrome.

Huntington Potter, PhD, professor of neurology, and Peter Pressman, MD, assistant professor of neurology, are principal investigators on the study of sargramostim, which is also know by the brand name Leukine, an FDA-approved drug with nearly 30 years of safe use in numerous patient populations.

“This is the first clinical trial in years to target cognition in people with Down syndrome,” said Potter, who is director of University of Colorado Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center. “We are breaking new ground in studying both of these disorders – Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. We hope that this therapy will greatly improve their quality of life.”

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