Confused About Treatments? Everyone Is.

With as much research as there is about Alzheimer’s Disease, there are surprisingly few conclusions as to its possible causes. Through the article of the week and classroom investigations into the different areas involving Alzheimer’s, much was learned about the possible mechanisms of Alzheimer’s but few conclusive answers were found. For example, Aβ protein segments that accumulates to form amyloid plaques have long believed to be an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s, as has tau aggregation and the forming of neurofibrilary tangles.  Given the ambiguity of the causes of Alzheimer’s I was interested in finding out what treatment plans are being investigated. The alzheimer’s association has a section on their website that describes both completed and on-going studies that test different drugs in the hope of finding a treatment for Alzheimer’s: http://www.alz.org/research/science/alzheimers_treatment_horizon.asp?type=more_information . The wide array of mechanisms that these drugs work through are yet another example of how scattered Alzheimer’s research is. ACC-001 and AN-1792 are ‘vaccine’ type drugs that target the Aβ, and bapineuzamab is another drug that targets Aβ, but while still in process, researchers are still not sure if reducing Aβ levels will be an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s. Yet other drugs, such as methylene blue work to prevent tau protein aggregation. The Alzheimer’s Association also reports that a future successful treatment will include a ‘cocktail’ of different medications, each aimed at the different mechanisms of Alzheimer’s. It is interesting to note that there are still clinical trials underway that are testing drugs that act on Aβ when current research is leaning toward the conclusion that Aβ may not be one of the deep-seated causes of Alzheimer’s. Is a cocktail of medications that may not be treating a disease the best approach to treatment? Alzheimer’s research has come a long way, but there are still significant strides to be made. With improving technology and more research being conducted, hopefully the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s can be discovered and an effective treatment can also be found.