Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative condition that affects and kills brain cells. Some of the numerous symptoms that can occur as a result of Alzheimer’s disease include problems with memory, language, planning, thinking and acting, perception, everyday competence, as well as spatial and temporal orientation.
Alzheimer‘s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent type of dementia and a progressive brain ailment that cannot be cured.
Age is the single most important factor in determining one’s likelihood of having Alzheimer’s disease. The likelihood of having Alzheimer’s disease increases in proportion to one’s age. Rarely does the condition manifest in patients younger than 65 years old; the majority of people who are afflicted are older than 80 years old. Alzheimer’s disease passed down via families is an extremely unusual type of the disease.
The illness is characterized by the gradual and increasing loss of nerve cells as well as the connections between nerve cells. In the brains of people who have Alzheimer’s disease, the typical protein deposits known as amyloid plaques and tau fibrils can be observed.
Alzheimer is not dementia
Dementia is a catch-all diagnosis that refers to a specific cluster of symptoms. Memory loss, linguistic challenges, an inability to solve problems, and other deficits in cognitive function are all signs that are typical of dementia. There are a number of factors that can lead to dementia, one of which is the destruction or loss of nerve cells and the connections between them in the brain.
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the conditions that can lead to dementia. The changes that occur in the brain as a result of Alzheimer’s disease include the buildup of aberrant proteins known as beta-amyloid and phosphorylated tau, in addition to the death of neurons. The changes that occur in the brain as a result of Alzheimer’s disease are the most prevalent cause of dementia.
Terminal illness - until now
Researchers have continued their work and developed medications that are capable of removing amyloid from the brain. Immunotherapies are the names given to these pharmaceuticals. They focus on the amyloid plaques that are seen in the brains of persons with Alzheimer’s disease in an effort to assist in the breakdown of those plaques.
Immunotherapies are already being utilized in the medical field, for instance, in the treatment of several types of cancer.
Donanemab, an antibody therapy, proved to be effective. Eli Lilly, one of the world’s leading healthcare companies, did not reveal all of its findings when it made the announcement. The aberrant amyloid is eliminated from the brain as a side effect of the medication’s action by binding to it and eliminating it.
The complete findingsof the study involved 1,700 participants. In the trial, participants got either once-monthly infusions of donanemab or dummy infusions of a placebo for a period of 18 months. Participants ranged in age from 60 to 85 and were in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
If sufficient amyloid, a nerve-disrupting material in the brain that is required for an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, was eliminated, participants in the donanemab group were switched to receive a placebo instead of the real treatment.
During the course of the trial, both groups had a reduction in their scores, but those who were administered donanemab experienced a reduction in their scores that was approximately 22% slower. The findings also revealed that the medication seemed to be more effective in treating the condition in its earliest stages.
People with less Alzheimer’s disease-related brain alterations had better memory and cognitive deterioration. The experiment demonstrated a 40% slowdown in daily tasks including driving, hobbies, and finances.
Risks
Major complications were uncommon, over one quarter of patients who were treated did develop some amount of brain edema or bleeding, whereas only two percent of patients in the control group did. During the course of the study, there were a total of four participants who passed away; three of them were in the donanemab group, and one was in the control group.
Can Alzheimer’s disease be halted in its tracks? The journey that science has embarked on is challenging, but there is reason to be optimistic about eventually reaching the destination.
