{"id":4638,"date":"2012-07-16T11:24:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T15:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=4638"},"modified":"2012-07-16T15:25:17","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T19:25:17","slug":"researchers-establish-detailed-timeline-for-brains-descent-into-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2012\/07\/researchers-establish-detailed-timeline-for-brains-descent-into-alzheimers\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers establish detailed timeline for brain’s descent into Alzheimer’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Washington University in St. Louis press release by Michael C. Purdy via ScienceDaily:<\/p>\n

\"\"Scientists have assembled the most detailed chronology to date of the human brain\u2019s long, slow slide into full-blown Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The timeline, developed through research led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears July 11 in The New England Journal of Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As part of an international research partnership known as the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer\u2019s Network (DIAN), scientists at Washington University and elsewhere evaluated a variety of pre-symptomatic markers of Alzheimer\u2019s disease in 128 subjects from families genetically predisposed to develop the disorder. Individuals in the study have a 50 percent chance of inheriting one of three mutations that are certain to cause Alzheimer\u2019s, often at an unusually young age.<\/p>\n

Using medical histories of the subjects\u2019 parents to estimate the age of the onset of symptoms for the study participants, the scientists assembled a timeline of changes in the brain leading to the memory loss and cognitive decline that characterizes Alzheimer\u2019s. The earliest of these changes, a drop in spinal fluid levels of the key ingredient of Alzheimer\u2019s brain plaques, can be detected 25 years before the anticipated age of onset.<\/p>\n

\u201cA series of changes begins in the brain decades before the symptoms of Alzheimer\u2019s disease are noticed by patients or families, and this cascade of events may provide a timeline for symptomatic on<\/strong>set,\u201d says first author Randall Bateman, MD, the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. \u201cAs we learn more about the origins of Alzheimer\u2019s to plan preventive treatments, this Alzheimer\u2019s timeline will be invaluable for successful drug trials.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example, Bateman says that the new data show that plaques become visible on brain scans 15 years before memory problems become apparent. Researchers in the DIAN plan to give treatments that remove or block plaque formation at this early stage of the disease\u2019s progression and monitor subjects to see not only if the plaques can be prevented or reduced, but also whether other Alzheimer\u2019s biomarkers measured in the study improve.<\/p>\n

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Primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the DIAN partnership is researching the rare, familial form of Alzheimer\u2019s disease that can cause symptoms to appear in affected people in their 30s and 40s–decades earlier than the more common form that typically occurs after age 65.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese exciting findings are the first to confirm what we have long suspected, that disease onset begins years before the first sign of cognitive decline or memory loss,\u201d said Laurie Ryan, PhD, clinical trials program director at the National Institute on Aging, part of the NIH. \u201cAnd while DIAN participants are at risk for the rare, genetic form of the disease, insights gained from the study will greatly inform our understanding of late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Because individuals with these inherited forms of Alzheimer\u2019s are widely dispersed geographically, there are too few at any one center to conduct extensive research. That led DIAN principal investigator John C. Morris, MD, the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology at Washington University, and his team to form the network four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new results could never have been gathered without the collaborative teamwork and dedication of our DIAN partners at institutions across the United States and in the United Kingdom and Australia,\u201d says Morris, who also is director of the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center at Washington University.<\/p>\n

Other results from the new study include:<\/p>\n