JAMA Neurol: different subtypes of Alzheimer's disease may affect the future treatment of patients

November 9, 2019 / biool / -- despite decades of research, scientists still haven't found a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, and understanding three different disease subtypes may be a very promising research direction; recently, an international journal published in JAMA neurology In the previous research report, researchers from Mayo Clinic and other institutions analyzed the key areas of the brain through research and found that the pattern of Alzheimer's disease-related injury or the age of onset varies according to the disease subtype, and the relevant research results are of great significance for the development of new therapies Photo source: Melissa, researcher of Mayo Clinic Dr Murray said that Alzheimer's disease can affect the health of patients in different ways If we clarify the underlying molecular mechanism, we may be able to uncover the mystery of the disease In this paper, researchers analyzed the brain tissue donated by more than 1000 deceased Alzheimer's patients, focusing on the cholinergic center Hub), which is the only known key target to develop a new effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease The researchers observed the main characteristics of this disease, namely, neurofibrillary tangle Tangles), which is an abnormal protein accumulation that can destroy the transport system of neurons, the researchers observed two very interesting patterns First, the researchers preserved the hippocampal sparing subtype in Alzheimer's disease Subtype) patients have observed very serious signs of disease The typical Alzheimer's disease subtype will affect the function of the hippocampus (the memory center of the brain), while the hippocampus reservation subtype will mainly affect the cerebral cortex (the brain area responsible for thinking and activity) Therefore, this subtype of Alzheimer's patients may have fishy smell, language or vision A related problem or disorder rather than a manifestation of memory loss Second, early-onset Alzheimer's patients who had symptoms before age 65 were able to see more disease-related injuries in their bodies than those who had symptoms later Based on the relevant research results, the researchers believe that the existing therapies can effectively treat patients with Alzheimer's disease subtypes and early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and the next step is to test their research hypothesis in the living patients At the same time, the researchers also stressed the importance of improving the accuracy of diagnosis Patients with hippocampal reservation subtype are considered to account for more than 10% of all patients However, due to the early onset and atypical symptoms of patients, such patients are often misdiagnosed For these patients, the cognitive decline may occur quickly, so a correct preliminary diagnosis is made It is particularly important When young patients develop symptoms that may point to frontotemporal dementia, clinicians need to consider the need for Alzheimer's biomarkers or other scans, said researcher Murray Later researchers also hope to carry out a comprehensive study on more patients to better understand the pathogenesis of Alzheimer 's disease At the same time, they also hope to extend the relevant research results to the research of multiple neurodegenerative diseases and the development of new therapies Original source: Fadi S Hanna al Shaikh et al, selective vulnerability of the nucleus basis of Meynert among neuropathetic subtypes of Alzheimer disease, JAMA Neurology (2019) Doi: 10.1001/jamaneeurol.2019.3606