[ExI] Fwd: Alzheimer's vaccine trial a success

[BillK]

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 10:47 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> ### Yes, we have known for something like 20 years that APP mutations
> can cause familial AD (FAD) but there was no linkage between APP gene
> and SAD (sporadic AD, about 99% of all cases). And now we have another
> very rare mutation that has the opposite effect - so what? I know that
> the  AD people are crowing about it
> (http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=3209) but why? Again, more
> than 99.9% of the elderly population, both with AD and without it,
> don't have the mutation. If APP gene is almost always identical
> between AD and healthy subjects, how could anybody claim that APP is
> the *cause* (not a correlate) of AD? And the doubts go further:
> Clearly, something affects amyloid processing in the elderly. A large
> fraction of us will develop amyloid deposits. A large fraction of us
> will become demented. Some of us will have both, some of us will have
> neither, and some of us will have one but not the other. In other
> words, APP gene mutations are not necessary for senile dementia to
> occur, and amyloid accumulation is neither sufficient nor necessary
> for dementia to occur. Removing amyloid or directly manipulating its
> production by pharmacological means (gamma secretase inhibitors) have
> completely and repeatedly failed in human studies - what else would a
> non-biased person need to reject the idea that amyloid is the cause of
> AD?
>
>

Probably because there is not just one cause of Alzheimer's. Just like
there is not just one cause of cancer.
These are complex diseases. There are many types of dementia, just as
there are many types of cancer.  I suspect that repairing a weakened
or failing immune system would greatly benefit many patients.

There are encouraging reports on this line of research for cancer and AD.


BillK