An Important Discovery:

Today we can find news that speak of the developments in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. At the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona made a series of tests and diagnoses in order to prevent Alzheimer's disease in its early stages:

- Have developed new techniques to diagnose the disease in early stages:

Until a few years ago, the only way to confirm that the patient had an excess of TAU protein or amyloid protein in the brain, which are involved in the disease, it was through an autopsy when he had died. Now, on the other hand, have developed techniques that allow you to detect the buildup of these proteins in people who still do not have any symptoms. It is one of the most important advances that have been made in recent years. One of these techniques is to perform neuroimaging tests; that is to make an MRI in patient of all your nervous system, and the other, in the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid, in which liquid is extracted from the lower part of the back part of the brain and which provide information relevant to detect absence, or not, of the protein.

Cerebrospinal fluid

MRI

- Researchers are developed many treatments to curb the disease:
There are different processes for example, clear the brain of excess of amyloid, to eliminate the deposits of protein TAU, to curb its occurrence or to combat inflammation of the brain. However, for the moment, none of these treatments has not been able to prove that significantly improves the symptoms. Although some of the tests that have been done are in advanced stages, still need a few years to find out if they have any real effect, these studies will need a very long time to finish from being carried out. All the experiments that have been carried out so far have not been positive. Although doctors don't even consider the possibility of setting up programs for early detection of Alzheimer's disease, can use these techniques to apply the treatments before, in patients with the disease in very initial phase, so it is possible that medications that until now had not had good results now have a different effect.

- They have discovered new genes linked to the disease:
In the last five years the researchers have identified a number of genes that are more common in people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. These new genes, provide researchers with clues to figure out what are the mechanisms that can cause illness or some of their most common symptoms. Some of these genes, for example, might be linked with the brain inflammation that patients suffer in the initial stage. But not all of the people who have alterations in these genes will develop Alzheimer's disease. It only means that they can increase a little the chance of having it.

- It is known that a balanced diet and physical and mental exercise prevents the disease:

Researchers also confirmed last year in two studies that cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension, cholesterol or diabetes, are directly related to the onset of the disease. For this reason, doctors insist on maintaining a balanced diet and exercise regularly.

-The current studies are looking for ways to stop or cure the disease:

Treatments available today get a certain stability of the symptoms for a while, because they improve the connections between the neurons and the brain work best. This, unfortunately, does not slow down or prevent the disease, but at least improves the quality of life of patients for a long time. The latest treatment that was passed is from 2003. Since then, there has been no new approved drugs, because most focus to slow down or reverse the disease, a goal that, for now, the researchers have not reached.

100 million dollars to Alzheimer's disease:

The founder of Microsoft Bill Gates has decided to give 100 million dollars to the Fondo de Descubrimiento of Dementia in personal title.

The American Funds combined with the aim of addressing a

major global health problem and devote himself to the research

of treatments to alleviate the effects of the neurodegenerative disease.

The long research devoted to the disease have not managed to design a treatment effective braking of the devastating effects of Alzheimer's, which affects almost 50 million people around the world, a figure that is predicted will amount up to 131 million by in 2050, according to noted Alzheimer's Disease International. However, Gates is not pessimistic with regard to the future of science in this field.

REec & AEMPS:

El registre d'assaigs d'Espanya (REec) i l’Agencia Espanyola de Medicaments i Productes Sanitaris (AEMPS) are two web sites that aim to serve as a source of information for clinical studies with drugs of any kind of disease that can be treated . In this case, the disease of Alzheimer's are being carried out more than a hundred interventions in order to find a vaccine or a drug to slow or stop the disease. The two most frequent advances that are being made are:

-The ABvac40 vaccine:

The 23 of October of the same year, is carrying out a study to test a new vaccine called ABvac40 in order to be able to finish curing the disease of Alzheimer's, but specifically this shot can only be injected in patients who are in the first phase, that is to say, in the mild stage.
In this clinical trial participated 210 patients over the age of 64 years and of both sexes.
This multicenter study consisted of two separate groups, each cone were half of the patients, to whom he injected the vaccine contained in the medicine to cure the disease, and in the other group, with the other half of the patients , they were given the placebo.
At this time are still doing all the evidence and relevant observations and it is hoped that, within 24 months, doctors and researchers because they can get results to be able to present it to the market.
This vaccine is used with the aim of evaluating the safety and tolerance of repeated doses of the vaccine in a population of patients, evaluate the immune response, changes in vaccine induced biomarkers and evaluate the cognitive.

GRA@CE:

These years will be launched the project GR@ACE, the first study in Spain of genomic research on Alzheimer's in terms of number of samples of patients, more than 4,000, that will allow us to identify new genetic targets to treat this disease.   The project GR@ACE will be held for three years and has the momentum of "l'Obra Social la Caixa", which used the same 650,000 euros, and Grífols, with a contribution of 600,000 euros. The study is based on the application of genomic technologies of high resolution for the identification of a new generation of genes that provide data in the design of new treatments to tackle the disease. These data will be of great scientific and social value.

Up to now, the 99.6% of clinical trials of new drugs against Alzheimer's disease have failed. It is necessary, therefore, to find new ways in order to reverse the high current figures of this disease, which lead them to consider it and to the pandemic of the 21st century.
The project GR@ACE is part of a line of research a priority for Europe ("Programa Horitzó" 2020) and affects the form in the study of Alzheimer's disease, as it aims to integrative bioinformatics, personalized medicine and the identification of new therapeutic targets. One of the objectives of the study will be the selection of genetic targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease using bioinformatic techniques of positioning of drugs. From a strictly clinical point of view, the impact of genomic technologies for the diagnosis and the ability to predict will be of great importance, since, due to its high heritability, it is expected that the genetic characterization of patients with Alzheimer's to generate a change of model diagnosis in the future.

Washington found the key:

Researchers at the University of Washington and the St. Louis Medical School have found a key difference in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and those who are cognitively normal but still have brain plaques that characterize this type of dementia.

There is a very interesting group of people whose thinking and memory are normal, even late in life, however, their brains are full of beta amyloid plaques that seem to be identical to what is seen in Alzheimer's disease. We never understand exactly what causes dementia. Hard plaques made from a protein called amyloid beta are always present in the brain of a person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, according to Brody. However, the simple presence of plaques does not always result in impaired thinking and memory. In other words, plaques are necessary – but not enough – to cause Alzheimer's dementia. The new study, available online in the journal Annals of Neurology, is still assuming beta amyloid in the cause of Alzheimer's dementia, but not necessarily in plaque form. Instead, the small beta-amyloid molecules dissolved in the brain fluid seem more closely related to the fact that a person develops symptoms of dementia.