Until now, the scientific narrative about Alzheimer’s It has been, for the most part, one of resistance. Current treatments, and those on the way, focus primarily on slow the progression of the disease or try prevent it before the damage is massive. Cure right now seemed impossible, but a recent study has given a small hope of cure, although with a long-term view.
They have reversed the disease. The news is fantastic. Science has managed to completely reverse Alzheimer’s and recover brain function in animal models. Something that has earned the Case Western Reserve University team a publication in the prestigious journal Cell Reportssince it opens a path of hope that is as revolutionary as it is cautious.
A change of focus. In a simple way, Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a neuronal alteration that literally causes accumulate protein plaques that are not destroyed. We can say that They accumulate garbage inside and that is why its function begins to be altered. That is why science I was focused on cleaning these “plaques” from the brain or slow down the appearance of more.
They have now changed this to focus on repairing the energy metabolism of neurons. The key in this case is a molecule called NAD+essential for any cell in the body generate power and initiate repair mechanisms.
The results. In the case of Alzheimer’s, this energy molecule is in a minimum concentration, which leaves the cells without the ability to defend themselves. In this way, scientists have used an experimental drug called P7C3-A20 to be able to solve this problem with very positive results.
The first thing that was seen was that the tau protein, one of the major germs of Alzheimer’s, began to activate less. Something that generated a minor damage to neurons. But in addition to this, the mice began to recover the memory they had lost with Alzheimer’s, including the ability to learn new things.
Standardization. Along with cognitive recovery and damage reversal, the mice began to normalize the biomarker in your blood p-tau217, which is used today as a way to diagnose the disease in humans. In this way, Alzheimer’s was practically cured thanks to this treatment.
From mouse to human. Although it seems like spectacular news, the reality is that there are several nuances, since “cure mice“It is not “curing humans.” Many promising drugs have died along the way after great results in rodents, since we are not at all the same and there are many changes between species.
However, this study adds an extra layer of optimism: the researchers identified 46 specific proteins that are altered in Alzheimer’s mice and that return to normal with the drug. Proteins that are also altered in an identical way in a diseased human brain. This suggests that the mechanism found could be extrapolated because it is something we share between species.
A long road. This is where we must apply precision surgery to our hopes. And although the study speaks of a “complete reversal”, there are several factors that force us to keep our feet on the ground.
The first of them is that the study is in a preclinical phaseso it has not yet been tested in humans. Something that can take years or decades to occur, and always with the risk that the failure rate in neurology is always very high.
Something that is logical, since the human brain is infinitely more complex than that of a laboratory mouse. This may mean that what in an animal is a full recovery, in humans, could be only a partial improvement or have side effects that have not been seen in animals.
A change of era? Despite the caution, the importance of this finding is undeniable. It challenges the idea that Alzheimer’s is a one-way street to degradation. If it is confirmed that the brain has the ability to recover once its metabolic balance is restored, the approach to 21st century medicine will radically change.
In this way, we are facing a hopeful study, although we must be patient to see if it really has great results when it enters the complexity of our organism.
Images | Robina Weermeijer
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