Drugs developed to reduce levels of a protein found at high levels in Alzheimer’s patients could lead to treatments aimed at curbing the disease before symptoms show up, a new study suggests.
A growing body of studies suggests that many people may start living with Alzheimer’s years before they even spot signs of the disease. They start to experience erasure of memories, language and thoughts without even realising, and once they do spot the symptoms, it may be too late to reverse or stop the degenerative disease.
Researchers assessed one of the earliest signs of the condition and found that targeting a brain protein could be a promising way to … curb the progression of Alzheimer’s.
The brain protein TSPO … is detectable even before memory loss or cognitive decline are evident, and influences the onset of Alzheimer’s, according to the study, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica.
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“If we can use TSPO to detect it early … it could mean slowing progression or delaying symptoms by five or six years,” said Dr Tomas R Guilarte, one of the authors of the study, from Florida International University.
