GenePoole's first link goes to a Salk Institute study showing removal of amyloid plaque with cannabis. Dr Bredesen did make a brief comment about THC's possible benefit for cognition at the provider protocol training in July. I'll move on from my wisenheimer half-joke on Bob Marley and marijuana to move on to something more serious.
There is an investigational drug that appears to be successful at removing amyloid plaque. No one knows yet whether it will improve cognition or reverse Alzheimer's. No one knows if removing plaque is a good or bad idea. The investigational drug has caused brain fluid accumulation and bleeding. Here is a NPR link about the drug: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shot ... in-plaques
Dr Bredesen (or possibly Dr Ram) also mentioned that removing amyloid plaque without resolving WHY the plaque is there may not be a good idea. It is possible that brain amyloid is serving a physiological purpose, possibly protecting the brain from metabolic and toxic results from infection, inflammation, and trophic withdrawal. All the work we are doing together as Apoe4s is intended to correct these metabolic and toxic problems. So this investigational drug, if successful, will correct the buildup of plaque without correcting the problem which is causing the plaque to begin with.
Stavia wrote:
sorry Lucy but I donated 9 inches of never-dyed hair to alopecia suffers
Wonderful cause, my friend, so I approve; you've made someone very happy. (Oh...and in my next life, I get your hair)
slacker wrote:
Dr Bredesen (or possibly Dr Ram) also mentioned that removing amyloid plaque without resolving WHY the plaque is there may not be a good idea. It is possible that brain amyloid is serving a physiological purpose, possibly protecting the brain from metabolic and toxic results from infection, inflammation, and trophic withdrawal
I believe Dr B referred to recent work out of Dr Rudy Tanzi's lab as a reference for this emerging view (reported in the NYT May 25 (link below). The takeaway appears to be that, while the amyloid may very well initially have a protective purpose, eventually (at least in some cases) it leads to collateral damage. So perhaps (my thoughts here), slowing down the amyloid accumulation (vs removing it) might be a reasonable interim approach until the underlying driver(s) can be corrected. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/healt ... .html?_r=0
Slowing of preventing the accumulation of beta-amyloid seems to be a very interesting way to approach this.
There are a number of BACE inhibitors which are designed to do exactly this. For APOE4 carriers, it is surmised that the brain does not "clear out" the junk as effectively as non carriers.
The conundrum is that you need to catch this before you have symptoms, effectively treating a "healthy" population with a drug.
The challenge becomes identifying the reliable biomarkers of the disease so that one can be treated with a BACE inhibitor early enough in the process to stem the tide. By the time people get diagnosed, it is likely too late.
I am not a carrier and neither is our daughter. If I were however, I would definitely sign up for one of these trials looking at treating "at risk" individuals with a BACE inhibitor.
slacker wrote:
Dr Bredesen (or possibly Dr Ram) also mentioned that removing amyloid plaque without resolving WHY the plaque is there may not be a good idea. It is possible that brain amyloid is serving a physiological purpose, possibly protecting the brain from metabolic and toxic results from infection, inflammation, and trophic withdrawal
Dr. Bredesen spoke at the 2016 Alzheimer’s and Dementia Summit hosted by Jonathan Landsman. Here’s my transcript of the soundbite from Dr. Bredesen:
The idea of getting rid of the amyloid only makes sense if you first understand why it’s there and get rid of the cause or causes. So we’ve looked at the molecular biology that underpins this and we’ve identified 36 different causes that can contribute to this. So what you want to do initially is find out what is causing this. Then when you fix that, then it’s fine to get rid of the amyloid. But for example we’ve seen people come in who have been treated just with the anti-amyloid approach without looking at what’s actually causing this and get worse because the amyloid is actually there as a protectant. So I think it’s important to know and there will be no question an important role for getting rid of the amyloid but again in association with getting rid of the cause.
Brugman4, welcome and thanks for the soundbite. Drugs that treat the amyloid buildup theory have not had good success, so like everything in the human body, it's definitely more complicated than researchers first thought.
And please consider posting a little about yourself in our Introductions section of the Newcomers Forum. We all learn from each other's experiences here!
Welcome to our site Brigman4! I just took a look at the Summit you referenced and it looks like a very interesting lineup of presenters. Thank you for the post. Looking forward to seeing you on the forums...we all learn so much from each other here whether it be via our personal journeys to stay healthy or thru sharing/discussing relevant research for our population.
Please feel free to share you story with the group and ask any questions you may have. Also, you may want to browse thru the Newcomers Forum that SusanJ mentioned if you'd like to learn more about the ApoE4 allele and our group.