Promising New Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease

Despite the advanced medical technology we have today, an effective treatment for Alzheimer's has not yet been found that not only helps slow the progression of the disease but also restores the brain to its previous state. However, a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles, and published in August 2024 revealed a surprising discovery. Researchers managed to synthesize a molecule called DDL-920 that restored the cognitive abilities of mice with Alzheimer's, and this discovery might significantly change the way the disease is treated. Not only could we slow its progression, but also restore and repair the brain, erasing the harmful effects of Alzheimer's disease. 

 

How does one molecule help restore cognitive abilities? 

Imagine your brain as a city, and the memory and thinking abilities are powered by an electrical system that lights up this city. Alzheimer's disease is a problem that disrupts the electrical flow of that system and causes electrical shorts, leading to memory loss and confusion, just like what would happen if some traffic lights and streetlights in the city were to go out. New molecule for Alzheimer's treatment: lights coming out of a brain.

Most existing treatments for Alzheimer's are aimed at cleaning the "junk" that accumulates in the brain (plaque) and causes these power outages, but the problem is that they don't address the power outages themselves. In contrast, the newly discovered molecule, named DDL-920, can actually do this, like an electrician called to fix the electrical short, and thanks to it, the future of Alzheimer's treatment looks much more promising. 

 

"There is really nothing like this on the market or in the experimental field, and no other treatment has shown the ability to do this," says Dr. István Módy, a professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead researcher. Indeed, even the modern drugs recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such as Lecanemab, which was approved for use in the U.S. in 2023, can only clean the plaque buildup in the brain but cannot repair the damage it caused. "These drugs may leave a brain without plaque, but all the pathological changes in the wiring mechanisms of nerve cells remain damaged," says Dr. Módy, meaning they do not address the cognitive problems that have already occurred.

The results in experiments look very promising 

The brain sends electrical signals at different rates to activate and deactivate various functions within it, much like how traffic lights work. Gamma wave oscillations are the ones that influence cognitive processes and working memory – the type of memory that helps us remember phone numbers, for example – and Alzheimer's patients who experience symptoms such as memory impairment show a decrease in gamma wave oscillations in their brains.

In other studies, attempts were made to restore memory by increasing gamma wave oscillations with the help of external aids, such as magnetic frequencies, but without success. However, in the current study, there is a significant breakthrough. Instead of trying to influence gamma wave oscillations using external aids, the researchers decided to try to influence the brain from within – with the help of molecules – and the molecule DDL-920 succeeded in the task.

 

In lab experiments, mice with Alzheimer's symptoms and healthy mice were tested, and they learned to navigate a maze with cues meant to lead them to the exit hole. The mice suffering from Alzheimer's were given a dose of the DDL-920 molecule twice a day for two weeks, and as a result, they showed remarkable improvement in their ability to navigate the maze and find the exit, functioning just as well as healthy mice in the same maze. 

 

Moreover, no negative side effects were observed from the treatment with the molecule, so researchers speculate that treatment with it will be safe for humans as well. However, more human trials are still needed to confirm this theory. If the trials show success at the same level, the molecule will allow effective treatments not only for Alzheimer's patients but also for those with schizophrenia, depression, and people on the autism spectrum.

Is this really a miracle cure for Alzheimer's?  

Dr. Módy claims that this mechanism has never been tested and studied before, so it represents a new direction that researchers have not yet tried, and it has a high chance of becoming the leading treatment for Alzheimer's patients. As mentioned, many more trials are still needed on the subject, but researchers are very optimistic. We hope to hear more developments on this soon, and we would be happy to discover if, in the near future, there will indeed be an available treatment that can restore the brain function of Alzheimer's patients to its former state. If so, we may be able to say goodbye to the damage caused by the disease and hello to a new era where "Alzheimer's" is no longer a scary word, but simply another disease that can be treated and its symptoms managed with a simple and quick treatment.

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THIS sign can be an early symptom of Lewy Body dementia

Some early warning signs of dementia you must know about

Dementia is an age-related mental condition characterised by memory loss, confusion, trouble in speaking and poor judgment. It is a progressive disease but the symptoms become more predominant and start affecting your daily life in the 60s. The early signs are quite subtle and hence often go unnoticed.

Lewy Body Dementia is one of the most common types of dementia, after Alzheimer’s disease. The condition progresses in seven stages, and identifying its signs early can help treat the condition.

What is Lewy Body Dementia?

Lewy body dementia (LBD) also known as dementia with Lewy bodies is caused by clumps of protein that form in the brain. The protein deposition, known as Lewy bodies develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement. The condition progresses slowly and leads to mental decline. The protein deposition is also associated with Parkinson's disease. Besides, people with Lewy bodies in their brains also have the amyloid plaques and tangled bundles of fibers which are also associated with the Alzheimer's disease.

​Early symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

The symptoms of Lewy body dementia progresses slowly and gets worse over time. But the way the symptom of this condition progresses depends on several factors like age, health and genes. As per a study published in the National Library of Health, the decline in the ability to recognise facial expressions can be an early warning sign of Lewy Body Dementia that should not be taken lightly. Based on the findings of a study, the researchers concluded that patients suffering from this kind of dementia had a hard time recognising the expression, other than happiness.

What did the study reveal?

In the study carried out between March 2016 to July 2017, researchers examined the characteristics of recognition of the six facial expressions of "happiness," "sadness," "fear," "anger," "surprise," and "disgust". They researched 107 people aged 60 years and more, diagnosed with dementia. In the end, it was revealed that a patient suffering from Lewy Body Disease, could recognise happiness and it was the only facial expression that was unaffected by ageing, onset, and duration of the disease. These people also faced difficulty in understanding the expression of fear, the study found.

Other symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

Apart from having difficulty in recognising most of the facial expressions, a patient suffering from Lewy Body Dementia may also show the following early signs:

Visual hallucinations

Movement disorders

Poor regulation of body functions

Cognitive problems

Sleep difficulties

Fluctuating attention

Depression

Apathy

Complications

If you witness any such signs of dementia or have a family history of dementia, talk to your doctor about it. Lewy body dementia is a progressive condition and if not taken care at the right time can progress to severe mental conditions like:

Severe dementia

Aggressive behaviour

Depression

Increased risk of falling and injury

Worsening of parkinsonian signs

Death, on average about seven to eight years

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New Drug Slows the Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer's Patients

Alzheimer's disease is a devastating condition that affects millions of people every year. Unfortunately, no cure for the condition exists at the moment, but medication can help temporarily improve the symptoms. Over the last many years, various scientists and researchers have been trying hard to come up with ways to help Alzheimer's patients. A new development in this regard has given Alzheimer's patients and their families a glimmer of hope.

A small study released by a drug company named Eli Lilly shows that the experimental drug donanemab may significantly slow down cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients. The two-year study, the findings of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine recently, followed 257 patients that exhibited early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. 131 of these patients received donanemab and the remaining 126 received a placebo once a month for up to 72 weeks.

The results show that the drug slowed cognitive decline by 32% on a composite measure of cognition and function in comparison to those who received the placebo. Furthermore, the treatment completely removed amyloid from the brains of most patients who received it. Amyloid is a substance that forms plaques in the brain and is considered to be the key factor in the worsening of Alzheimer’s disease. According to the researchers, this is the first time a drug of this kind has had positive results in early-stage trials.

"This is the first late-stage study in Alzheimer's disease to meet its primary endpoint at the primary analysis. Donanemab has the potential to become a very important treatment for Alzheimer's disease," said in a statement Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., Lilly's chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. 

 

"We were pleased to see not only slowing of cognitive and functional decline but also very substantial clearance of amyloid plaques and slowing of spread of tau pathology. The constellation of clinical and biomarker results indicates the potential for long-term disease modification. We are grateful to the patients, caregivers, and investigators who participated in this landmark study,” they added. 

 

The side-effects of the drug included brain swelling that was spotted on imaging scans, along with drug-infusion reactions and nausea.

This new drug can be a game-changer in Alzheimer’s treatment  

Over the past many years, many researchers have tried to develop drugs that could remove amyloid from Alzheimer’s patients' brains. This is the first one that is showing some real promise. 

 

“We slowed the disease down by about a third,” he said. “In an 18-month study, we’ve given them six months of less decline. Of course, it’s a 10-year disease. The question is, over 10 years, could you give them back three years?” said Daniel Skovronsky. 

 

The researchers said that while they were happy with the results, they were hoping that donanemab would slow patients’ decline by 50%. Even so, this new drug could become a game-changer in anti-amyloid therapies.

Another key highlight of the landmark study was that, apart from reducing the amount of amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's patients, the drug also slowed down the clinical progression of the disease. This indicates that this could indeed be a disease-modifying therapy. 

 

While more testing in other trials would be needed to confirm the claims of the study, it has certainly offered great promise. Even doctors and scientists who weren’t involved in the study believe that it could lead to something game-changing, given the great number of previous Alzheimer’s trial failures.

However, a few questions about the drug still need to be answered. For example, does its benefit last over the long term? Will there be more side-effects if the drug is taken for a long time? And will the modest decline be considered truly meaningful to the patients and caregivers? 

 

What we really need is to follow the patients taking the drug for a longer time and analyze the results. But this study has certainly offered a beacon of hope where there was none.

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