University College London, UK
Research shows that Alzheimer’s can be transmitted through the beta-amyloid protein. Provided by Getty Image Bank
Research has shown that Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease, can spread from person to person through brain tissue.
John Colling, professor of neurodegeneration at University College London, UK, and his research team confirmed that some patients who received growth hormone derived from the pituitary gland of cadavers showed early signs of Alzheimer’s decades later, and analyzed that the amyloid protein contained in the hormone caused brain damage, published on the 29th (local time) in the international academic journal “Nature Medicine”.
The “growth hormone therapy” analyzed by the research team is a treatment that extracts growth hormone from the pituitary gland, which secretes various types of hormones, and injects it into young patients with growth failure. Usually, growth hormones were extracted from the pituitary gland of a dead person.
Growth hormone therapy in the United Kingdom was discontinued in 1985 after patients who received hormone injections developed symptoms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a neurological disease whose main symptoms include memory impairment, insomnia and depression. During the process of extracting and purifying growth hormone from the pituitary gland, the modified prion protein was contaminated and CJD developed in people who received the contaminated hormone.
Previously, in September 2018, Professor Colling’s research team confirmed the presence of “amyloid beta protein” in growth hormone. When beta-amyloid protein was injected into experimental mice, they developed beta-amyloid plaques. Beta-amyloid plaques are amino acid peptides known to be critically involved in Alzheimer’s disease.
The research team confirmed that five out of eight people who received growth hormone treatment in childhood but did not develop CJD developed Alzheimer’s symptoms between the ages of 38 and 55. There were no genetic factors causing Alzheimer’s disease in these people. After reviewing medical records and brain scan results, the diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease were met.
The research team analyzed that beta-amyloid plaques were injected by contaminated hormones, causing damage to nerve cells and brain tissue. This means that Alzheimer’s disease can also spread from person to person through the movement of the amyloid beta protein.
The research team said: “We will prepare preventive measures to reduce cases of rare diseases that may occur in the future” and added: “We plan to continue the research focusing on patients who are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s or who show the first symptoms.”
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