Recently in an article from USA today it was suggested that Alzheimer's may be able to spread from one person to another. A group of researchers studied 8 cases where people aged 31 to 56 died from Creutzfeldts-Jakob disease after receiving cadaver generated growth hormone injections as kids. Creutzfldts-Jakob disease results from a build up of incorrectly folded proteins called prions. They are produced and aggregate very similarly to those of the protein build ups in Alzheimer's. These patients contracted CJD from exposure to the neurological tissues of infected persons. The researchers are suggesting that a similar phenomenon could happen with proteins involved in Alzheimer's too. Each of the cases studied showed early signs of Alzheimer's before they died which is abnormal for this age group. Could they have possible gotten "seeds" of Alzheimer's disease from the growth hormone infection? I think its possible. There would need to be more research done before it can be supported or disproved but it is defiantly an interesting subject to talk about. We know that the formation of amyloids in the brain caused by Alzheimer's is close to the same process that happens in prion formation. Yes, most of the time it is a random mutation and some people are genetically predisposed for it. But we know nervous tissue can transmit disease so what makes this so unlikely?
USA today and CNN and any other news source that published this article or headline did so to spark interest not panic. This is the type of topic molecular biologist should be working on. If there is some possibility for this to be true wouldn't you want to have every necessary precaution in place? Just like with any other disease or infection carried in blood or saliva or even on the skin its best to excessively clean any surface that comes in contact with it. All donors of neurological tissue should be screened for this and any tools that come in contact with it should be cleaned in a way that would reduce the risk of further spread The more we learn about this supposed phenomenon the more we can do to reduce the cases or find a remedy for the disease. Even if a hypothesis not supported information was still learned and time was not wasted .
Citation: Dier, Arden, "seed of Alzheimer's could be passed from person to person.". USA today. september 10,2015.
I don't know very much about this, so pardon me if this seems like a stupid question. The transmission of prion generated diseases among people can be avoided by you know...not eating each other's brains and stuff. Do we need to be worried about Alzheimers spreading if the mode of transmission is the same as prion diseases?
ReplyDeleteThe main concern from this study was a specific cadaver driven donor program. The patients received growth hormone harvested from the brain that contained the alzheimers proteins. But it seems like it could spread easier than most prion diseases.The study shows it could be spread from any contact with nervous tissue for example, my understanding is that root canals can reach down to the nerves, this would be enough contact that if the utensils weren't cleaned in a way that breaks down the proteins they could be passed from one person to another. Any kind of nerve tissue transplant would be enough to transfer the disease. As a general rule of thumb I would advise not playing with or eating diseased brains in general. More research would have to be done as the study size of this research was only 8 individuals.
Delete"As a general rule of thumb I would advise not playing with or eating diseased brains in general.."
DeleteGreat rule of thumb.
This blog was actually pretty interesting, because I never really sat down and thought of someone getting Alzheimer's that way. I use to think that it was just something that one may get as they grew older with age.
ReplyDeleteAll of people that get Alzheimer's just acquire a random mutation that then leads to protein aggregates in the brain. A portion of people are genetically predisposed to get this mutation but it doesn't mean they will always get it. This is really just another way you could get it, however unlikely people may think it is.
DeleteI agree that this is very possible and a bit frightening to think about and if it is possible, it is good for people to be informed for proper precautions to be put into place.
ReplyDeleteThis does make me curious as well if a lot of different prion diseases are more easily transmitted than we had previously believed, since they have discovered variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which can be transmitted through blood and other body fluids as well. And it is something that has not traditionally been screened for exposure or presence in any donations or transfusions (until the last few years since the vCJD discoveries), so there has been a lot of opportunities already for transmission. If depression is modulated by a similar prion with the capability for transmission through other bodily fluids, it could even help to explain why the rates of depression diagnoses have been climbing so rapidly in the last 20 years or so.
ReplyDeleteSo is the only factor that makes this "contagious" neurological tissue, or would people that receive normal blood transfusions or skin grafts or something like that at risk too?
ReplyDelete