The Tangled Neuron

Aspirin, Brain Bleeding and Memory Loss

I’ve written before about how bleeding in the brain is more common than previously thought, especially for people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  Bleeding in the brain (which can be detected by a type of MRI) may be a sign of the cerebral amyloid angiopathy my father had, and is linked to memory loss. 

A new study suggests that if you’ve already had bleeding in your brain, aspirin may increase the risk of further bleeding.  This adds to the evidence that you should check with your doctor before taking aspirin on an ongoing basis.

Proteins, Aging and Alzheimer's

Summary:  In roundworms, hundreds of proteins form hard clumps as the animal ages.  This discovery may contribute to a better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.

Much of the current research on neurodegenerative diseases focuses on a handful of proteins that tend to form hard clumps in the brain, including:

• beta amyloid in plaques associated with Alzheimer’s
• tau in tangles associated with Alzheimer’s
• alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies associated with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia
• huntingtin associated with Huntington’s disease.

But small amounts of other clumped proteins have been found in Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles and in Lewy bodies.  Researchers in Cynthia Kenyon’s lab at the University of California, San Francisco wondered if those other proteins are just accidentally caught up in these clumps, or if they somehow contribute to neurodegeneration.


               Della David, Ph.D.

Dr. Kenyon’s lab focuses on the study of aging in a microscopic roundworm called C. elegans.  These roundworms are much simpler than humans or even mice.  In a series of experiments using C. elegans, the researchers found there are actually hundreds of proteins that form hard clumps as roundworms age.  “Our study shows that in worms, inherent protein aggregation is linked to the aging process,” says Della David, first author of the paper.

Eli Lilly StopsTrial of Alzheimer's Drug

Eli Lilly has stopped its Phase III trial of semagacestat, a potential Alzheimer's treatment.  Memory and thinking in trial participants receiving treatment declined faster than those receiving placebo, and semagacestat was associated with an increased risk of skin cancer.

Another failure of a treatment targeting beta amyloid is sure to further intensify the controversy about whether that protein causes Alzheimer's.

New Lewy Body Dementia Association Report

A new Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) report summarizes the results of the association’s survey of 962 caregivers.  The report highlights the wide range of challenges families dealing with Lewy body dementia face, and caregivers’ experiences of the medical system as inadequate to meet their needs.

The LBDA hopes the report will serve as a “blueprint for action” for providing more information and education for families and physicians, as well as increased physical, social and emotional support for caregivers.

One Doctor's Efforts to Prevent Alzheimer's

Summary:  In the absence of a near-term cure for Alzheimer’s, Dr. Ken Kosik believes we should focus on lifestyle changes and managing chronic disease to try to prevent or slow cognitive decline.  He thinks “neighborhood cognitive shops” can provide one-stop shopping for the medical and non-medical services people need to support these healthy behaviors.  His center for Cognitive Fitness and Innovative Therapies (CFIT) in California is the first such shop.

He is also in the early stages of developing related online services.   His experiments with community-based efforts for dementia prevention may help answer broader questions about the future of healthcare.

  Kenneth Kosik, MD

When it comes to Alzheimer’s, the big picture is alarming.  The risk of memory loss increases with age, and the oldest of the 80 million or so baby boomers in the U.S. are now in their mid 60s.  Given the recent failure of several Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical trials, and the growing controversy about what causes Alzheimer’s, it’s unlikely that some sort of cure will be available in the near future.  In the U.S. and elsewhere, it will be difficult to care for the predicted “tsunami” of elders with memory loss.

Some hope lies in preventing or delaying memory loss.  Researchers at Johns Hopkins calculate that small delays in the average age of onset of Alzheimer’s (and/or slowing the rate of cognitive decline) would significantly reduce the number of people with the disease.
 
That sounds good, but a recent panel of experts convened by the U.S. National Institutes of Health concluded there is not enough evidence to make any recommendations about Alzheimer’s prevention or slowing cognitive decline.

Ken Kosik, a physician and neuroscientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, disagrees with that conclusion.  While he believes research will provide a long term solution, he thinks we should pay more attention to preventing or delaying memory loss while we wait for answers from science.   On a recent Alzheimer Research Forum Live Discussion, he argued that the evidence that lifestyle changes and controlling chronic disease can reduce the risk of developing dementia is good enough.