in the amyloid theory of alzheimers disease
beta amyloid accumulates in the brain
this accumulation leads to brain cell death
many of the new drugs are aimed at
1 removing the amyloid thats accumulated in the brain
or
2 preventing it from being deposited
or
3 preventing it from being produced in the first place
the drug biogens aducanumab that i receive in my monthly infusions
at ucla if i am getting the real drug instead of the placebo
is an antibody that goes in and does 1 and 2
it removes the accumulated amyloid from the brain
and
it prevents it from being deposited in the brain by binding it
up before it can be stuck in the brain
as aside
i have now done 1 year of these infusions
in 6 months i will be switched to definitely getting
the real aducanumab for at least 2 more years
so
i am hoping that ive been on the real drug so that by
septermber 2018 i will have received 20 doses of the
real drug
if that is so my amyvid pet scan for the amyloid that was
in my brain 1 year ago should be all clear
fingers crossed
now there is a lot of research going on to block the
bace gene or beta secretase gene in the brain that
cleaves the beta amyloid to make the stuff that sticks in the brain
there is a tablet produced now that is taken regularly
is called a bace inhibitor
which means it blocks the gene
so the bad protein amyloid is not produced
by preventing the amyloid from being made it cant be
deposited in the brain
studies using this bace inhibitor are ongoing now
in patients
who are prealzheimers
which means they have no memory issues but they have
positive scans like that above for the bad beta amyloid in the brain
eg
if i had a scan 20 years ago it probably would have been positive
for the bad beta amyloid
who have mild cognitive impairment or early alzheimers
so by stopping or reducing the amyloid production in the brain
alzheimers disease would be slowed or stopped
recently researcheres were able to remove the bace gene
totally in rats with alzheimers disease
the rats memory improved back to normal
so there was no bad beta amyloid in the brain
so by removing this gene or inhibiting it with drugs
alzheimers disease could be prevented or slowed down
so
maybe in the future
folks will take a bace inhibitor pill to prevent the
bad amyloid from being produced
then
add a drug like aducanumab that i am on
to remove any beta amyloid that was produced or deposited
then
you could treat
or
if we are lucky
cure alzheimers disease
lets hope we are this close
the organicgreen doctor
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