Friday, March 22, 2024

alzheimers news-a shuttle for the brain

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A SHUTTLE FOR THE BRAIN

alzheimers develops by first having amyloid plaques deposited in the brain
then
tau proteins in the brain cells unwind and form tau tangles
these tangles spread through the brain
where the tangles show up in large numbers is where symptoms start occurring
eg if its the frontal lobe it may be all behavioral symptoms 
then
neuroinflammation occurs as the body starts trying to fix all the damage thats being done
it only damages things more

the goal now is to treat each of these
treating tau tangles and neuroinflammation is available only in clinical trials
maybe in 5 years or so they will be available to treat these two

now in 2024 we have drugs that will remove amyloid plaques
in fact the drug aduhelm i took for 34 months has removed all the plaques from my brain
now
i just need my tau tangles and my neuroinflammation treated

it may be awhile before i can do that

an aside to get in the clinical trials for treating tau tangles and neuroinflammation you have to have a positive amyloid pet scan
mine is normal now so i dont qualify
doesnt seem right does it

my drug aduhelm and the fully approved drug leqembi and the soon to be approved drug donanemab are given as infusions 
they are monoclonal antibodies that bind to amyloid plaques and remove the plaques
there are some risks
folks like me with the apoe 4 apoe 4 gene were at risk for brain bleeds
luckily i didnt have any brain bleeds

recently i wrote about the researcher who used ultrasound to blow open the blood brain barrier to allow my drug aduhelm to enter the brain so it could all get into the brain
it worked

now roche has a new drug called trontinemab
it uses a drug that is a transferrin molecule which can cross the blood brain barrier
transferrin is used to move iron around in the body
they then attach a fragment of a monoclonal antibody against amyloid plaques to the transferrin
it is given as an intravenous infusion

its is called a brain shuttle since it moves the antibody through the blood brain barrier allowing the antibody to work faster

in early studies of a few patients it removes the plaques in just 3 months without any of the severe side effects that the three antibodies mentioned above have
ie edema and bleeding

again the drug is called trontinemab
it will be starting clinical trials in larger numbers soon
this is one to watch as it moves through these clinical trials

this is what you do 
find a drug in the early clinical trials that shows promise and start tracking it
thats what i did with my drug aduhelm or aducanumab 
i tracked it for several years before i entered the treatment trial

this is how to be proactive with your medical care and get your disease treated years before a drug becomes available on the market

the organicgreen doctor

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