Lecanemab is a promising advance. But at present it’s no more than that 💬 StuartJRitchie for ipaperviews
Scientists are desperate for good news on Alzheimer’s disease, for three good reasons. The first is obvious: the sheer tragedy of the disease, which plays havoc with a sufferer’s brain, changing them into an entirely different, much diminished, person.
The second is that, as our population ages, there will be many more people with Alzheimer’s – and we urgently need ways to treat them. The third reason is that the cupboard for treatments was bare: researchers had failed to find any viable drugs for Alzheimer’s, rendering doctors powerless in the face of often dreadful symptoms.. At the end of 2022, researchers announced a major clinical trial that showed positive results for a new anti-Alzheimer’s drug called lecanemab, which appeared to hold back cognitive decline.
At the beginning of this month, a group of researchers wrote a letter strongly criticising the interpretation of the lecanemab trial. They noted that the effects of the drug, despite much media hype, were modest – it’s debatable whether most patients would even notice them. Moreover, since the participants in the trial were so highly selected – nearly 60 per cent of potential participants were rejected – it’s not clear they were representative of Alzheimer’s patients.
They also focused on safety concerns. More than 12 per cent of the trial patients developed brain bleeds or swellings that are linked to confusion, dizziness and nausea. There was also evidence that they lost some of their brain volume.subsequently died, after having strokes or seizures. It’s possible that the way the drug works – by stripping plaques of the protein amyloid beta from the brain – weakens the brain’s blood vessels, making it more vulnerable to bleeds.
Österreich Neuesten Nachrichten, Österreich Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Six minutes of daily high-intensity exercise could delay the onset of Alzheimer's diseaseSix minutes of high-intensity exercise could extend the lifespan of a healthy brain and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. New research published in The Journal of Physiology shows that a short but intense bout of cycling increases the production of a specialized protein that is essential for brain formation, learning and memory, and could protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline. This insight on exercise is part of the drive to develop accessible, equitable and affordable non-pharmacological approaches that anyone can adopt to promote healthy aging.
Weiterlesen »
Plasma biomarker profiles in autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s diseaseJohansson et al. describe plasma biomarkers in a longitudinal Swedish cohort of patients with monogenic Alzheimer’s disease. Plasma GFAP began to increase 10 ye
Weiterlesen »
New blood test could detect Alzheimer's '10 years' before symptoms show upIt often takes years for Alzheimer's symptoms such as memory loss to show up after a person develops the disease
Weiterlesen »
Association of shift work with incident dementia: a community-based cohort study - BMC MedicineBackground Some observational studies had found that shift work would increase risks of metabolic disorders, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases, but there was no homogeneous evidence of such an association between shift work and incident dementia. This study aimed to investigate whether shift work would increase the risk of dementia in a general population. Methods One hundred seventy thousand seven hundred twenty-two employed participants without cognitive impairment or dementia at baseline recruited between 2006 and 2010 were selected from the UK Biobank cohort study. Follow-up occurred through June 2021. Shift work status at baseline was self-reported by participants and they were categorized as non-shift workers or shift workers. Among shift workers, participants were further categorized as night shift workers or shift but non-night shift workers. The primary outcome was all-cause dementia in a time-to-event analysis, and the secondary outcomes were subtypes of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and other types of dementia. Results In total, 716 dementia cases were observed among 170,722 participants over a median follow-up period of 12.4 years. Shift workers had an increased risk of all-cause dementia as compared with non-shift workers after multivariable adjustment (hazard ratio [HR], 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08–1.58); however, among shift workers, night shift work was not associated with the risk of dementia (HR, 1.04, 95% CI, 0.73–1.47). We found no significant interaction between shift work and genetic predisposition to dementia on the primary outcome (P for interaction = 0.77). Conclusions Shift work at baseline was associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia. Among shift workers, there was no significant association between night shift work and the risk of dementia. The increased incidence of dementia in shift workers did not differ between participants in different genetic risk strata for dementia.
Weiterlesen »
New blood test could detect Alzheimer's '10 years' before symptoms show upIt often takes years for Alzheimer's symptoms such as memory loss to show up after a person develops the disease
Weiterlesen »