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from the progress-against-a-nasty-disease dept.
https://news.ubc.ca/2017/10/31/alzheimers-disease-might-be-a-whole-body-problem/
Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia, has long been assumed to originate in the brain but new research indicates that it could be triggered by breakdowns elsewhere in the body.
The findings, published today in Molecular Psychiatry [DOI: 10.1038/mp.2017.204] [DX], offer hope that future drug therapies might be able to stop or slow the disease without acting directly on the brain, which is a complex, sensitive and often hard-to-reach target. Instead, such drugs could target the kidney or liver, ridding the blood of a toxic protein [amyloid-β protein] before it ever reaches the brain.
"Alzheimer's disease is clearly a disease of the brain, but our research shows that we need to pay attention to the whole body to understand where it comes from, and how to stop it," said Dr. Weihong Song, UBC psychiatry professor.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Friday November 03 2017, @02:55PM (6 children)
Would a drug that targets amyloid-β in the body be helpful in preventing the onset of Alzheimer's? Could the potential onset even be detected by screening for amyloid-β which TFA says is a precursor? The presence of amyloid-β and other factors could indicate to treat with drugs targeting amyloid-β. (Not mentioned is how many drugs treat this.)
Millions of people could benefit from such treatment if it enabled politicians to remember what they said, promised or tweeted just yesterday. It might also be helpful for press secretaries and even people running for office.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2017, @03:03PM (5 children)
How many hundreds of billions (trillions) of $ will be spent on targeting a-beta before this is over? No data or reasoning seems to put a dent in the enthusiasm for this idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2017, @03:49PM (4 children)
To whoever downvoted, can you find one disease state where someone has looked for a link to amyloids and not found it? Amyloids are like the generic cold symptoms of diseases because it requires constant vigilance to prevent their formation (they are the lowest energy state for any peptide).
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Friday November 03 2017, @05:22PM (3 children)
Which would be: No one. The only moderation that post got up to now is a single Disagree, which doesn't reduce the post's score, therefore is not a downvote.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2017, @05:52PM (2 children)
It sure feels like a downvote.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2017, @07:14PM
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2a/3a/66/2a3a6622fc0a2062ae6bf6e338de6f9e--family-guy-puns.jpg [pinimg.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2017, @08:59PM
Get off Reddit, fake internet points shouldn't be affecting your mental health. Don't you know what kind of invertebrates inhabit the net??