Gulf spill two years out

clearance of soluble Ab. Mutations in the apoE gene are the most common genetic defect associated with sporadic Alzheimer’s, thus activation of the gene is considered to be a promising approach. Landreth and colleagues found that oral administration of bexarotene resulted in improved clearance of soluble Ab within a few hours, due to enhanced apoE activity. They also found that the area affected by Ab plaques was reduced by half within three days. Most encouragingly, the mice regained cognitive, social, and olfactory abilities they had already lost to the disease. The UK’s Alzheimer’s Society welcomed the news with cautious enthusiasm: “This exciting study could be the beginning of a journey towards a potential new way to treat Alzheimer’s disease,” commented Anne Corbett, research manager for the society. She cautioned: “However, this is very early days. People with Alzheimer’s should not rush to get this drug, as we need much more research to establish if it has benefits for humans.” More generally, the Alzheimer’s Society sees hope in the approach of finding Alzheimer drugs among the substances already approved for other applications. “Investigating the added benefits of existing licensed drugs is an innovative approach in our fight against the condition, and one which Alzheimer’s Society is championing through its drug discovery programme. This could see new treatments for dementia being developed much sooner,” the statement said. As more and more people are reaching the age where Alzheimer’s disease becomes a dominant health risk, the need for real treatment options is getting more urgent. Alois Alzheimer, however, did not live long enough to get ‘his’ disease. In December 1915, just a few years after his name became attached to the dementia, he succumbed to complications after contracting an infectious disease aged 51, a fairly normal fate in a bygone world without antibiotics, where only academic psychiatrists knew about Alzheimer’s disease.