Factoid:
With the percentage of older people increasing throughout the developed world, it is estimated that, barring effective treatment, the number of Alzheimer's victims in the U.S. alone will reach 14 million by the year 2050.
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Discovery Could Lead to Treatment for Alzheimers
Researchers have identified an enzyme that contributes to, or perhaps causes, the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Blocking that enzyme in the brain may lead to an effective treatment.
Start Date: 4/10/99
A report in the journal Nature on April 8, 1999 says researchers have identified an enzyme that contributes to, or perhaps causes, the onset of Alzheimer's Disease, the progressive mind-destroying illness that afflicts some 4 million Americans and many millions more worldwide.
The enzyme, called presenilin, is believed to control production of amyloid beta proteins in the brain. These proteins form plaques, or toxic deposits, in the brains of Alzheimer's victims. Presenilin was previously believed to have a role in Alzheimer's, but the new research appears to clarify that role and suggests a path toward control or prevention of the dread disease.
Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe, a neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said scientists are "very much on the road" to a treatment. He said drugs designed to block the enzyme could enter clinical trials within three years.
Other scientists warn, however, that more tests must be done before the exact role of presenilin is fully understood. It is possible, they say, that other enzymes are also involved in Alzheimer's. And presenilin may play other more positive roles in the body's complex chemistry as well -- for example, helping to regulate the immune system -- so that simply blocking it may have unwanted side affects.
Alzheimer's is one of the most common and most devastating diseases of the elderly. With the percentage of older people increasing throughout the developed world, it is estimated that, barring effective treatment, the number of Alzheimer's victims in the U.S. alone will reach 14 million by the year 2050. The estimated cost to manage one Alzheimer's patient today is $47,000 per year, according to the Alzheimer's Disease Sourcebook. Although the onset of Alzheimer's usually begins after age 65, about 10% of cases begin before age 50.
 Excelsior, Michael Lindemann's new novel (written under the pen name Michael Paul), depicts a wholly plausible near future in which human cloning is both widespread and widely abused; terrorists have access to target-specific biological weapons; recreational space travel is commonplace; and mounting pressures of global climate change, environmental decline, population growth and civil unrest inspire radical new approaches to urban security.
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