27 ms·
Is alzheimers a prion disease, or maybe just Prions are involved?
by sillypuddy 8y ago
Is alzheimers a prion disease, or maybe just Prions are involved?
- tshannon 8y agoI believe Alzheimers is recognized as a metabolic disease now (some have even said Type 3 diabetes). It's in no way related to Prions.
- dingby 8y agoThe diabetes/metabolic theory was one pitched theory, and it isn’t even a terribly mainstream one. There is no consensus that Alzheimer’s is a “metabolic disease”. Even thought ApoE is implicated, that association could be explained by numerous mechanism, even viral.
- tshannon 8y agoThanks for clarifying. I'm no expert just passing on things I've read. Regardless, it's unrelated to prions.
- jelling 8y agoNo expert, but the latest studies have been about the correlation with the herpes virus and how the plaque build-ups that are part of Alzheimer's may be the immune system's attempt to protect the brain.
- adamb 8y agoMy understanding is that there is some evidence that Alzheimer's is transmissible (e.g. higher rate of incidence in caregivers and neurosurgeons), but more study is needed.
- Fomite 8y agoThere's also been observations of particularly large amounts of certain human herpes viruses in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
- rincebrain 8y agoA study showed that if they wired two mice's circulatory systems together, one with Alzheimer's and one without, the second one would eventually develop everyone's favorite brain plaques. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151909-alzheimers-may-be-able-to-spread-through-blood-transfusions/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151909-alzheimers-may-... So while wiring together two bloodstreams is a bit extreme, and likely to result in most things being transmissible, there's nonzero evidence that you can have a bad day from a blood transfusion.