Researchers in the Netherlands believe they have made a significant breakthrough in developing a medicine to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
The team from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience has discovered a set of brain cells which become active at an early stage in the disease when there are still no visible symptoms.
Team leader Prof Dick Swaab believes if this activation process could be simulated through medicines once the disease has progressed, the later symptoms may be significantly reduced.
The team's findings, due to be published in the neurology journal Brain, indicate that in the very earliest stage of the disease, patients do not appear to have any memory impairments or other symptoms commonly associated with later stages of the disorder.
Under the microscope, however, signs of the disease are visible.
Prof Swaab: "The brain itself appears to compensate for the disease process; nearly 500 genes in the front part of the parahippocampal cortex then become extra active.
These genes ensure that nerve cells are better able to communicate with each other, allowing people to continue to function well. As soon as these genes become less active, the memory impairments become apparent.”
According to Prof Swaab, this discovery is an important step on the road to finding effective medication. “We see these temporarily active genes as a pointer to a medicine. Once the disease has progressed to a more advanced stage, we can see whether we can reactivate the brain cells using medicines.”
Prof Swaab added that a medicine for Alzheimer’s will only be a possibility for future generations.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, affecting one in 20 of those over 65. There are currently 44,000 dementia patients in Ireland but this is expected to exceed 100,000 within the next 20 years, according to the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the nerve cells in the brain and the connections between these cells break down, preventing the brain from functioning well.
