Alzheimer's Might Not Be a Brain Disease, Expert Reveals | Hacker News Reader

Alzheimer's Might Not Be a Brain Disease, Expert Reveals

sciencealert.com

89 pointsnashashmi18 comments

Previous discussions:

1. Chemical clears Alzheimer's protein and restores memory in mice (nature.com) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10751234] 452 points Dec 17, 2015 139 comments

2. Alzheimer’s amyloid hypothesis ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure (2019) (statnews.com) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31828509] 344 points June 21, 2022 311 comments

3. Potential fabrication in research threatens the amyloid theory of Alzheimer’s (science.org) [https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabricatio...] 604 points July 21, 2022 259 comments

4. Experts Have Resigned from an FDA Committee over Alzheimer's Drug Approval (npr.org) [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28615124] 319 points Sept 22, 2021 148 comments

We work a bit in the space focused on sleep.

My non-medical (I'm not a doctor or scientist) opinion based on my exposure to the controversies and theories I've looked at over the last 4 years is that Alzheimer's is not 1 disease.

Alzheimer's is diagnosed by ruling out other potential issues. Cognitive decline not related to hemorrhages, strokes, thyroid issues, etc get lumped into Alzheimer's (from my understanding).

This theory of the autoimmune system response is interesting, as it suggests why the amyloids exist, but it doesn't necessarily point to them not being part of the issue.

Pretty sure this is correct. Seen a number of unbiased whole tissue seq studies point to 4-6 subtypes. Amyloid may be a driver in like one, same for immune, but mostly its tauopathy, age related, or vascular changes.

Yes, this is often mentioned in discussions of Alzheimer’s disease. It is so far defined based on symptoms, but without a true cause, there is no certainty that the is one cause.

The amazing thing about science today is we are learning so much about our immune system in such a short time now that a novel pathogen has humbled us. So many revelations are starting to provide a clearer picture to things like Alzheimer’s, RA, fibromyalgia, MS, ME/CFS, and more.

The more interesting part? Immune cell-based treatments have really made their debut and things like monoclonal antibodies, msc, tregs, etc may just be the ticket.

What novel pathogen?

coronavirus

You mean SARS-COV-2. Coronaviruses are not new.

More and more scientists are reaching a consensus that Alzheimer's is a form of diabetes, or the neuronal manifestation of T1D or T2D.

TL;dr: Alzheimer's is an impairment of glucose metabolism within the brain.

Is this for a whole group of mental maladies like dementia and Alzheimers, or just Alzheimers?

Was that mentioned in this article? If not, link to a source.

No they aren't.

There are studies in this direction, e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092544391...

Alzheimer's Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/#:~:tex....

wtf? It’s about sugar all along?

always_has_been_meme.jpg

Surely this will stop people from feeding their children juiceboxes with 30 grams of sugar

How do people get Alzheimer’s without type 1 or 2 diabetes? Sincere, not rhetorical.

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