Amyloid plaques: they’re at the heart of scientists’ hypotheses about what causes Alzheimer’s, and they are focusing on removing them as an effective treatment option and, hopefully, one day, a cure. The FDA’s recent approval of the newest medication, Aducanumab, is one case.
Yet a new Alzheimer’s research study led by the University of Cincinnati in conjunction with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden is turning this thinking upside down. Alberto Espay, the study’s senior author and professor of neurology at UC, explains, “It’s not the plaques causing impaired cognition. Amyloid plaques are a consequence, not a cause.”
Espay and the UC team believe the focus should be on declining insoluble amyloid-beta peptides and not the resulting accumulation of plaques. These findings are based on the brain scans and spinal fluid tests on 600 participants, all of whom have amyloid plaques. In comparing the number of plaques and peptides, those with higher peptide levels were the ones with expected levels of cognitive functioning – regardless of plaque levels.
More than half of all adults aged 85 and older have developed amyloid plaques – yet only one in ten develop dementia.
Further Alzheimer’s research is progressing, including tests on animal models. Based on the results of these tests, treatment options geared towards increasing the soluble version of the protein and preventing it from hardening into plaques may be the next step in solving the Alzheimer’s puzzle.
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Aggression
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Contact Modern Health Home Care online or call us at 215.995.2012 to request additional dementia care resources, learn more about our options for home care in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, and schedule your free in-home assessment.
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