4 ms·
Could alzheimer's be more like cancer, where there are several variants and several causes? It seems like beta amyloid were looked at because they produce simil
by djsumdog 8y ago
Could alzheimer's be more like cancer, where there are several variants and several causes? It seems like beta amyloid were looked at because they produce similar protein manifolding to prions. Other comments on here mention herpes (which is incredibly common. I've never had cold-sores, but dated enough people who have where I may just have it and not present, and it can't easily be tested for since it produced very similar antibodies to chickenpox).
- hunta2097 8y agoI think this may be the case for many brain-related illnesses. My son is severely autistic and through schools etc I know a lot of autistic children and adults. They are all very different but still labelled as "autistic spectrum". I think there are many causes with many similar symptoms, which is why no-one has discovered a common cause.
- mattkrause 8y agoThis is definitely true for autism. It’s clearly somewhat heritable, but no one has found a gene or mutation that all people with autism share. Study A picks out this gene from one set of families, Study B picks out a totally different gene (and can’t replicate A’s findings). Alzheimer’s is a little odd in that most (maybe all) patients seem to have the plaques. Removing the plaques seems to do nothing though so it might be a side effect of something else going wrong.
- Gibbon1 8y agoThat's my opinion have a special needs brother. I'm down on the side that these are mostly subtle developmental disorders. Both structural and in neural 'presets'. The latter I think explains kids with specific deficits that disappear over time.