From: gemini23x@gmail.com   
      
   Can Alzheimer's Really Be Passed From One Person to Another?    
   Steve Williams    
   Sep 14, 2015   
   12:00pm   
   56 comments    
      
   17120    
   You may have seen the headlines saying a new study has shown that Alzheimer's   
   disease may, in rare circumstances, be transmitted. Is this research credible,   
   and if so what does it mean for our understanding of Alzheimer's?    
      
   Wait, what actually is Alzheimer's disease?    
      
   To put this study in context it's important to understand what Alzheimer's is   
   and how it occurs.    
      
   According to the Alzheimer's Society, Alzheimer's is a disease named after the   
   physician who first described the phenomenon, Alois Alzheimer. The disease is   
   characterized by the formation of proteins in the brain that create plaques,   
   sometimes called    
   tangles. These protein structures lead to a loss of connections between the   
   nerves and cells, and eventually these lead to the nerves and cells dying and   
   the loss of brain tissue. Alzheimer's also causes a reduction in the chemical   
   messengers the brain    
   uses to coordinate signals around the brain. As a result, the brain tissue   
   that remains healthy may still be impaired and unable to communicate   
   effectively. Initially, Alzheimer's disease symptoms may be managed with   
   medications that can help to restore    
   the chemical balance in the brain that allows for effective communication.   
   However, as more and more plaques are formed the disease progresses and more   
   parts of the brain are damaged. This means that the disease is progressive and   
   its symptoms, like loss    
   of cognitive function and physical impairment, will become more numerous and   
   more severe.    
      
   Currently there is no known cure for Alzheimer's. Scientists don't know the   
   precise environmental factors that might make Alzheimer's more likely to   
   develop in some people over others, but have identified certain genes that   
   seem to make people more    
   likely to develop the condition. Still, while the condition may be heritable,   
   it is generally understood to not be transmissible, meaning you can't catch   
   the disease but only develop it.    
      
   This latest study may modify our thinking on that, but only in very limited   
   circumstances.    
      
   So what about Alzheimer's being passed from one person to another?    
      
   The first thing that it is important to stress is that any headline or report   
   suggesting that Alzheimer's might be contagious or communicable (without   
   providing context) is grossly misleading. The study in question did not find   
   any evidence of that, and    
   we can dispel that myth right from the start.    
      
   Some animal research* has previously suggested that Alzheimer's like symptoms   
   may be passed on to other animals through tissue transplants, though until now   
   there's been no convincing physical evidence of this in humans.    
      
   The latest issue of Nature reports on a case where that might have occurred   
   however. The research involved autopsies on the brains of eight people who had   
   died of CJD. The eight people had contracted the disease through exposure to   
   "contaminated batches    
   of growth hormone that had been extracted from the pituitary glands of human   
   cadavers" that occurred in the 1980s. The growth hormone product has been   
   discontinued and the specific procedure behind that health scare has also been   
   changed.    
      
   Yet a study of those autopsies found that six of the brains, as well as   
   showing the damage caused by CJD, appeared to also have the protein structures   
   that are associated with Alzheimer's disease, this despite the subjects having   
   no genetic    
   predisposition to Alzheimer's. There was no evidence that the CJD pathology   
   had changed in any way that might account for this, and no symptoms of   
   Alzheimer's had been reported prior to the subjects' death, leading the   
   researchers to believe that the    
   growth hormone the subjects were exposed to may have transmitted what have   
   been referred to as the "protein seeds" of the disease.    
      
   This is the first in-human example of transmission of one facet of the   
   underlying pathology that results in Alzheimer's. However, it is only a small   
   study and much wider investigations would need to be carried out to confirm   
   these findings. Nevertheless,    
   because it makes serious claims it is being taken seriously by the medical   
   community.    
      
   Professor John Collinge, of College School London in the UK, is quoted as   
   saying:    
      
   "Our research argues that we need to rethink our view of Alzheimer's and   
   related diseases and evaluate the risk of it being transmitted inadvertently   
   to patients by medical and surgical procedures long known to carry a risk of   
   transferring prion    
   infection.    
      
   "There is absolutely no suggestion from our work that Alzheimer's disease is   
   contagious or that there would be any risk to relatives, spouses or carers of   
   patients with Alzheimer's.    
      
   "Concerns relate to medical or surgical procedures where patients are injected   
   or transplanted with material that might contain amyloid protein seeds or from   
   surgical instruments contaminated with such seeds."    
      
   So what does this mean? Again, it's worth stressing that this study shows   
   absolutely no evidence that Alzheimer's might be transmitted between people in   
   day-to-day situations, for example through physical contact with someone with   
   Alzheimer's. However,    
   what it could mean is that Alzheimer's might be transmitted in very specific   
   circumstances, for example through surgical interventions like tissue transfer   
   or through administering substances like hormones that have been extracted   
   from people who had the    
   underlying pathology for Alzheimer's.    
      
   It's also worth echoing what leading charity Alzheimer's Scotland points out:   
   that the research didn't find evidence of many of the other signature   
   Alzheimer's components including the tau protein which is also known to   
   underpin Alzheimer's symptoms    
   developing. Clearly, then, this research needs to be replicated by others and   
   investigated further.    
      
   In terms of what this means for Alzheimer's patients and their carers, there's   
   absolutely nothing in this research to be afraid of. What is best, however, is   
   if we ignore the sensationalism surrounding this research and stick to the   
   facts, and the fact    
   is this flags up a potential for new understanding of Alzheimer's and how, in   
   some circumstances, it may develop in people who hadn't shown a predisposition   
   to the illness.    
      
        
      
      
   http://www.care2.com/causes/can-alzheimers-really-be-passed-from   
   one-person-to-another.html    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)