Transplant anti-rejection drug protects against Alzheimer's, study says

[Omaha Steve]

Source: UPI

By Stephen Feller

GALVESTON, Texas, June 8 (UPI) -- A drug that suppresses the immune system to prevent transplant patient's bodies from rejecting their new organs may prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers made the discovery while reviewing data that showed that dementia and Alzheimer's occur among transplant patients at much lower rates than in the general population.

Calcineurin, an enzyme that regulates communication between brain cells and memory formation, plays a major role in the formation of toxic protein aggregates that target and disrupt the brain cells responsible for memory among Alzheimer's patients.

"These data clearly show that the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's in our transplant patient group is significantly lower, in fact almost absent, when compared to national data from the general population," Luca Cicalese, a professor in the department of surgery, said in a press release.

FULL story at link.



A drug used to prevent transplant patient's bodies from rejecting their new organs may help prevent Alzheimer's disease. Photo by Fresnel/Shutterstock

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2015/06/08/Transplant-anti-rejection-drug-protects-against-Alzheimers-study-says/1241433798960/

[gwheezie]

1. Wow, hope it pans out

That sounds promising

[Psephos]

2. Alzheimers will ultimately be shown to be an autoimmune disease, imo.

There is a lot of research underway on that idea currently.

[Nitram]

3. This suggests that alzheimer's may be an auto-immune disease.

Very interesting.

[wordpix]

4. Age is a big factor--how old were the transplant patients in the study?

Yes, this sounds hopeful, but I have questions and these are based on my experience with my mother's AD for 7 years.

My mother was fine at age 80-81 but by 82 her memory loss was obvious and at 83 she was diagnosed with AD, which impacts mostly older adults. I kept her at home for almost 5 yrs. but in her last year we moved her to a dementia facility. Everyone there was in their 80's with one exception for early onset AD.

Organ transplant patients are typically young. I am guessing not many seniors, particularly those in the typical AD years, get transplants. Healthy organs from healthy donors are hard to get and priority goes to parents of minor children, who are young.

I also wonder how long the transplant patients were studied. If they were 40's-60ish, they would have to be studied for 20-40 years to reach the typical AD age. A cancer patient, OTOH, is considered "cured" if he's still alive without recurrence after 5 yrs. There are few cancer studies that go beyond 5 yrs.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

5. Supressing the immune system would also be bad for many other things.

I'd rather take my chances with a good immune system.