Alzheimer's, here is the protein and the marker that can be found in the person who becomes ill for many years. In Italy 3 million people are directly or indirectly involved in patient care
A study conducted in China has monitored for approximately 20 years middle-aged and elderly adults, intervening ad regular intervals with brain scans, spinal taps and other specific tests.
Compared to those who remained cognitively intact, people who eventually developed Alzheimer's, 18 years before diagnosis, had higher levels of a protein in their spinal fluid. Then, every few years, the study detected another so-called biomarker of problems.
Researchers at the Innovation Center for i neurological disorders in Beijing compared 648 people diagnosed with Alzheimer's and an identical number of people not affected by the disease. Scientists do not know how and why we get it but they have noticed that an amyloid emerges in the brain, with the progressive accumulation of a beta-amyloid which triggers a complex cascade of events. These end with neuronal cell death, loss of neuronal synapses, the emergence of progressive neurotransmitter deficits. All events that contribute to leading the person to dementia.
The most significant aspect in Chinese research is that the detection of amyloid in future Alzheimer's patients it occurred even 18 or 14 years before diagnosis, depending on the test used.
The research, which will be published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, offers a timeline of how anomalies accumulate over time. And this succession can give the possibility of understanding and trying, in a second moment, to inhibit the chain of destructive events.
The spread of Alzheimer's as a disease is relatively recent and in this historical phase we are experimenting with how to inhibit the formation of the amyloid in question.
However, the approach is still in an experimental phase. Some drugs have been approved by regulatory bodies to slow down progression of early Alzheimer's, offering hope to patients, even if the effects may be limited to a few months. In some cases these are monoclonal antibodies, administered via intravenous infusions every two weeks.
The drugs used target the protein called beta-amyloid which aggregates to form plaques in the brain. Therefore, monitoring the silent changes of the brain is essential. But it is still early to see whether it is possible to delay the onset of the disease and how to actually treat it over time.
In 2015, an estimated 46.8 million people worldwide were affected by a form of dementia, with the figure expected to grow. There are over 7 million people across Europe who suffer from dementia and in particular Alzheimer's. In Italy, the total number of patients with dementia is estimated to be over one million (of which approximately 600,000 with Alzheimer's dementia) and about 3 million people are directly or indirectly involved in the care of their loved ones.
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