Cancer prevents Altzheimer's
Strange but true ! And we haven't figured out exactly why yet. But being a cancer survivor cuts down your chances of ever getting Altzheimers. Or vice versa.
But for those of you who suddenly had the inspiration ( as I did ) to go out and get a few good sunburns and induce some skin cancer so as to maintain cerebral acuity in later years, there is a glitch. Skin cancer doesn't prevent Oldtimer's disease nearly as much as other types of cancer do. ( But, on the bright side, you will get some nice tans. )
The information comes from a huge study on tens of thousands of people called the Framingham Study, which has been going on for decades in Massecheusetts. The study leader , Dr. Jane Driver, M.D. is assistant professor of medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital , Harvard Medical School, Boston. She presented these findings at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
Just how cancer can prevent Altzheimer's ( and Parkinson's Disease ) is a bit of a mystery, but may involve a gene called PIN1. This gene is "up-regulated" in people with cancer, and is missing or screwed up in people with Alzheimer's Disease.
But for those of you who suddenly had the inspiration ( as I did ) to go out and get a few good sunburns and induce some skin cancer so as to maintain cerebral acuity in later years, there is a glitch. Skin cancer doesn't prevent Oldtimer's disease nearly as much as other types of cancer do. ( But, on the bright side, you will get some nice tans. )
The information comes from a huge study on tens of thousands of people called the Framingham Study, which has been going on for decades in Massecheusetts. The study leader , Dr. Jane Driver, M.D. is assistant professor of medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital , Harvard Medical School, Boston. She presented these findings at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.
Just how cancer can prevent Altzheimer's ( and Parkinson's Disease ) is a bit of a mystery, but may involve a gene called PIN1. This gene is "up-regulated" in people with cancer, and is missing or screwed up in people with Alzheimer's Disease.
And Alzheimers prevents cancer !
The relationship seems to go the other way too. People who are badly afflicted with Alzheimer's Disesase ( AD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) have only about half the amount of cancer they should. ( Except, once again, for skin cancer. )
One theory as to why the PIN1 gene has the weird effect it does is because it's job seems to be involved with folding proteins into intricate shapes. This might lead to the deposits of "tau protein" that gunk up the brains of AD patients. And cancers cells with highly folded proteins might be less likely to survive, so the same mechanism could increase one disease while decreasing another.
Scientists are hugely interested in this relationship because it is backwards to what is usually seen, where diseases cluster together in groups. Like the way obesity and high blood pressure and heart disease all cluster together. But the PIN1 gene seems to work in a totally unique way - it is like a gate that either steers the body one way or the other - towards cancer, or towards Alzheimer's Disease, but not both. Which makes it pretty interesting.
One theory as to why the PIN1 gene has the weird effect it does is because it's job seems to be involved with folding proteins into intricate shapes. This might lead to the deposits of "tau protein" that gunk up the brains of AD patients. And cancers cells with highly folded proteins might be less likely to survive, so the same mechanism could increase one disease while decreasing another.
Scientists are hugely interested in this relationship because it is backwards to what is usually seen, where diseases cluster together in groups. Like the way obesity and high blood pressure and heart disease all cluster together. But the PIN1 gene seems to work in a totally unique way - it is like a gate that either steers the body one way or the other - towards cancer, or towards Alzheimer's Disease, but not both. Which makes it pretty interesting.
Lithium may also prevent Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
There are a number of drugs which seem to prevent AD, or at least slow it down a lot. Now an old drug that used to be the mainstay of the manic - depressive crowd may also prevent Alzheimers - lithium.
The May 2011 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry just has released a study showing that low dose lithium may help to keep one smart. And with side - effects similar to placebo. ( i.e. side effects that were the same as the sugar pills, so very few side effects. )
This is a small study of about only fourty people, but the ones on lithium stayed smarter ( although their AD still progressed a little) and also had lower concentrations of "bad Alzheimer things" floating in the fluid around their brain. There was less tau protein ( of both T and P varieties) , and lower concentrations of Abeta-42 protein. And the way that lithium caused all of this - as I am sure you were just about to guess - is by inhibiting an evil enzyme called glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3B)
The bad part is that since lithium is already an established drug there will not be much incentive on the part of drug companies to do more research in this ares. The good part is that - if you want to have a go at it - lithium is very well known, safe when taken properly, and dirt cheap.
The May 2011 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry just has released a study showing that low dose lithium may help to keep one smart. And with side - effects similar to placebo. ( i.e. side effects that were the same as the sugar pills, so very few side effects. )
This is a small study of about only fourty people, but the ones on lithium stayed smarter ( although their AD still progressed a little) and also had lower concentrations of "bad Alzheimer things" floating in the fluid around their brain. There was less tau protein ( of both T and P varieties) , and lower concentrations of Abeta-42 protein. And the way that lithium caused all of this - as I am sure you were just about to guess - is by inhibiting an evil enzyme called glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3B)
The bad part is that since lithium is already an established drug there will not be much incentive on the part of drug companies to do more research in this ares. The good part is that - if you want to have a go at it - lithium is very well known, safe when taken properly, and dirt cheap.