ShOn Tuesday, January 9, a group of scientists from the University Medical Center Amsterdam, Alzheimer's Center Amsterdam and Maastricht University announced a discovery that could change the way Alzheimer's disease is treated. According to researchers, the disease has at least five different types. Therefore, some medications may be more or less effective for some patients. The news was revealed in the magazine Aging nature.
Scientists analyzed 1,058 proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid of 419 people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Thus, they discovered that there were five biological variables in this group. The first is characterized by increased production of amyloid protein. In the second case, the blood-brain barrier is disrupted, amyloid production decreases, and nerve cell growth decreases.
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And that's not all. They also explain that the variants differ in the degree of protein synthesis, the functioning of the immune system, and the functioning of the organ that produces cerebrospinal fluid. The researchers point out that patients with different forms of Alzheimer's also showed differences in other aspects of the disease, such as how quickly the disease progresses.
These results suggest that the drugs only work on one type of disease. In other words, the ones that block amyloid production work for people who have a variant with higher amyloid production. However, they can be harmful to those with the less amyloid-producing variant.
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