A new way to protect the brain from Alzheimer’s?
Pharmaceuticals are one form of treating Alzheimer’s. Another promising possibility is a genetic mutation that could effectively protect the brain from dementia.
First, a little background before explaining the science of genetic mutations.
Cognitive decline has been attributed to protein clumps formulating in the brain, which has popularized several books with dietary programs designed to minimize these excess protein clumps in order to maintain a healthy brain. While all efforts to prevent dementia are helpful, scientists at the Mayo Clinic have discovered what could be a more definitive approach.
In 2014, a Mayo Clinic team linked a rare APOE3-V236E variant to the reduced risk of Alzheimer’s. Some of those same team members were on a second Mayo Clinic team that wanted to better understand how the genetic mutation protects the brain. Recently, researchers found that humans carrying the variant had lower amounts of insoluble APOE protein and that the variant’s presence in the brain coincided with reduced beta-amyloid deposits or no plaque at all.
Announced last month, the findings indicate that the mutated APOE3 gene increases fatty molecule formations critical to nerve cell functioning, which potentially reduces the brain’s accumulation of protein clumps. Based upon this latest research, scientists believe that it’s possible to develop effective treatment strategies and drugs to target APOE as a protection against Alzheimer’s.