4 ms·
If I reduce your load of gunshot wounds near zero but to a nonzero value, the pathogenesis of your disease will still worsen. This blogger will then claim that
by lvs 7y ago
If I reduce your load of gunshot wounds near zero but to a nonzero value, the pathogenesis of your disease will still worsen. This blogger will then claim that the gunshot wound hypothesis is flawed!
The data shows that reducing amyloid-beta load is not sufficient to confer a clinical benefit. That's all the data shows. The failure of these drugs does not preclude the role of amyloid formation in the diseases.
In particular, there is no known dose-response relationship for amyloid-beta or other pathogenically-implicated amyloid proteins.
The conclusion is similar: these drugs aiming to reduce amyloid load are illogical. But the subsequent claim that the amyloid hypothesis is wrong does not follow.
- whymauri 7y agoI don't believe Derek is denying the role of amyloid formation in Alzheimer's here. Just questioning the efficacy of this particular therapeutic hypothesis. Note that the therapeutic hypothesis and mechanistic hypothesis can co-exist and be slightly disjoint due to the lack of a deeper understanding of the disease. That's how I interpret this post, at least.
- nate_meurer 7y ago> The data shows that reducing amyloid-beta load is not sufficient to confer a clinical benefit. No, this trial was designed to test whether preventing amyloid plaque formation can prevent Alzheimer's. To the extent that it does not (which appears to be the conclusion), then it's safe to say that amyloid hypothesis is wrong. In other words, if these patients do not acquire amyloid plaque, but still acquire Alzheimer's at the same rate and severity, then amyloid plaques logically cannot be the cause of Alzheimer's. This should no longer surprise anyone. These studies, coupled with the existence of people who have been found to be loaded with amyloid plaque and yet do NOT get Alzheimers [1], should be plenty to change the direction of research. 1 - https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/colombian-woman-s-genes-offer-new-clues-staving-alzheimer-s https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/colombian-woman-s-ge...