Alzheimer's gene neutralised in human brain cells for the first time
Do you know someone with Alzheimer?
Last April 9 a team in California successfully identified the protein associated with the high-risk apoE4 gene, the gene apolipoprotein E3 (ApoE3) has a variant called ApoE4 that is strongly associated with the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. Individuals with one copy of the ApoE4 gene are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared to those with ApoE3. Those with two copies of ApoE4 are twelve times more likely to develop the disease.
This big news of identified and then managed to prevent it damaging human neuron cells. That’s means it’s now a possibility to work in the creation of drugs to halting the disease.
But it’s still missing a long way because the researchers need to have urged caution because so far their compound has only been tried on collections of cells in a laboratory.
Huang and his colleagues went straight for human brain cells rather than the traditional mouse trial because they realised the presence of the apoE4 gene does not change the production of amyloid beta in a mouse brain.
Yadong Huang, who led the study, which was published in Nature Medicine, said: “Drug development for Alzheimer’s disease has been largely a disappointment over the last 10 years.”
“Many drugs work, beautifully in a mouse model, but so far they’ve all failed in clinical trials. “One concern within the field has been how poorly these mouse models really mimic human disease.”
Some things you probably don’t know about Alzheimer are:
● Half of adults aged 85 and over have Alzheimer’s.
● More than half of the 5.4 million Americans with the disease may not know they have it.
● More women have Alzheimer’s than men.
● The disease is the 6th-leading cause of death in the U.S.
● The total cost of health and long term care services for Alzheimer’s is $259 billion.
● There are an estimated 800,000 Americans with the disease living alone.
It’s a really common and difficult disease it have cost a lot of money and even lives so this is a huge progress in this fight against Alzheimer.
Bodkin, H. (2018). Alzheimer's gene neutralised in human brain cells for the first time. The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/04/09/alzheimers-gene-neutralised-human-brain-cells-first-time/ Stevenson, S., & Profile, S. (2018). Top 10 Facts About Alzheimer's Disease. Aplaceformom.com. Retrieved 10 April 2018, from https://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2013-02-28-scary-facts-about-alzheimers-disease/
Forbes Welcome. (2018). Google.com.mx. Retrieved 11 April 2018, from https://www.google.com.mx/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/04/10/researchers-clarify-and-negate-a-genetic-risk-factor-for-alzheimers-in-human-neurons/amp
