{"id":23232,"date":"2024-01-30T01:21:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T07:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23232"},"modified":"2024-01-30T01:21:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T07:21:32","slug":"rare-cases-of-possible-alzheimers-transmission-uncovered-in-recipients-of-discontinued-medical-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=23232","title":{"rendered":"Rare cases of possible Alzheimer\u2019s transmission uncovered in recipients of discontinued medical treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Early-onset dementia symptoms in five adults <\/strong>may be connected to a now-discontinued human growth hormone medical treatment that they received decades ago as children, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, provides the first reported evidence of medically acquired Alzheimer\u2019s disease in living people. In these cases, the patients\u2019 early-onset dementia symptoms may be the result of the possible transmission of amyloid beta protein, which is a key component of Alzheimer\u2019s disease when it forms plaques in the brain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abnormal buildup of the protein amyloid beta <\/strong>in the brain is associated with Alzheimer\u2019s and the new study suggests that amyloid beta contamination may have a connection with the early dementia symptoms experienced by the patients in the study. The study findings do not suggest that Alzheimer\u2019s disease can be contagious, or spread like viral or bacterial infections, for instance, but they raise new questions about Alzheimer\u2019s and other degenerative diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI should emphasize these are very rare occurrences, and the majority of this relates to medical procedures that are no longer used,\u201d John Collinge, lead author of the study and director of the University College London Institute of Prion Diseases, said in a news briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All five adults had growth hormone deficiency as children and received pituitary growth hormones prepared in a specific way from cadavers. The pituitary gland<\/a> is located at the base of the brain, and human growth hormone<\/a>, or HGH, is a natural hormone the gland makes and releases, promoting growth in children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1959 and 1985, these patients were among the at least 1,848 people in the United Kingdom who were treated with a human growth hormone derived from a cadaver\u2019s pituitary gland, according to the study. At the time, this treatment also was used in other parts of the world, including the United States<\/a>. The treatment approach was discontinued after cases of a rare brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease<\/a> were found to be associated with<\/a> the administration of contaminated human growth hormone<\/a> from cadavers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new study suggests that repeated exposure, <\/strong>over multiple years, <\/strong>to treatments with cadaver-derived HGH that had been contaminated by both prions associated with Creutzfeldt\u2013Jakob disease and amyloid beta seeds could transmit Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Prions are proteins that can act as transmissible agents<\/a> of neurodegenerative diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers wrote in their study that Alzheimer\u2019s disease may be transmissible, in certain circumstances, in a way similar to conditions known as \u201cprion diseases<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders known to be associated with prion proteins, including Creutzfeldt\u2013Jakob <\/strong>disease or CJD. Although Alzheimer\u2019s is not a prion disease, some separate research<\/a> suggests that the two proteins that are hallmarks in Alzheimer\u2019s disease \u2014 amyloid beta and tau \u2014 behave like prions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt looks like what\u2019s going on in Alzheimer\u2019s disease is very similar in many respects to what happens in the human prion diseases like CJD,\u201d Collinge said in the news briefing. \u201cIt does raise implications about therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The public has nothing to fear\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, the researchers previously described \u201cpossible evidence<\/a>\u201d that\u00a0transmission of amyloid beta protein<\/a>\u00a0from a cadaver\u2019s growth hormone to a recipient was feasible and then\u00a0in 2018<\/a>, they studied this in lab mice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe now provide evidence that Alzheimer\u2019s disease is also transmissible in certain circumstances,\u201d the researchers \u2013 from the University College London and National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in the United Kingdom \u2013 wrote in their study. Though they add that this type of transmission is \u201crare\u201d and there is no suggestion that amyloid beta can be transmitted between people in everyday activities or modern-day routine medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter human growth hormones were no longer used in the 1980s due to concerns over Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease transmission, strict procedures were put in place to minimise cross-contamination. But in light of these findings, researchers recommend that medical procedures should be reviewed to ensure that rare cases of Alzheimer\u2019s transmission like this do not happen in the future,\u201d Dr. Susan Kohlhaas, executive director of research and partnerships at Alzheimer\u2019s Research UK, said about the new study in a written statement distributed by the UK-based Science Media Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis study suggests that in very rare circumstances\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s disease may be transmitted between humans via human growth hormone from deceased donors. It must be stressed that this treatment is no longer used today and has been replaced with synthetic growth hormone,\u201d Kohlhaas said in the statement. \u201cIt\u2019s also important to stress that this is the only recorded instance of\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s transmission between humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Richard Isaacson, who was not involved in the new study, said in an email that he has suspected for a while that Alzheimer\u2019s disease may have some transmissibility similar to prion diseases, but prior research he has seen was unable to prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s hard to say, there must be something different about how HGH may have infected recipients in this study when compared to prior work,\u201d said Isaacson, director of research at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that \u201cthe public has nothing to fear\u201d since this type of human growth hormone treatment is no longer in clinical practice, but the study emphasizes the importance of sterilization and decontamination of instruments in between surgeries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is no suggestion that amyloid beta can be transmitted between individuals in day-to-day activities, \u201cits recognition emphasizes the need to review measures to prevent accidental transmissions via other medical and surgical procedures,\u201d researchers wrote in the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m also intrigued by how these results may inform potential therapeutic targets and strategies in the future,\u201d Isaacson said, regarding Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Asking new scientific questions\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The researchers examined eight cases in which a person had a history of being treated with human growth hormone derived from a cadaver\u2019s pituitary gland. All of them had been treated as children. Five of the patients were still alive during the study and were in their 50s. The three others had died at ages 57, 54 and 47.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that five of the patients had symptoms consistent with early-onset dementia and three of those five had been diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease before the study. Four of the patients started experiencing symptoms between the ages of 48 and 49. The remaining patient started having symptoms at 55.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have found that it is possible for amyloid-beta pathology to be transmitted and contribute to the development of Alzheimer\u2019s disease,\u201d Dr. Gargi Banerjee, the study\u2019s first author and researcher at the University College London Institute of Prion Diseases<\/a>, said in a news <\/strong>release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis transmission occurred following treatment with a now obsolete form of growth hormone, and involved repeated treatments with contaminated material, often over several years,\u201d Banerjee said. \u201cThere is no indication that Alzheimer\u2019s disease can be acquired from close contact, or during the provision of routine care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new study is the first time that Dr. James Galvin, director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health at UHealth, the University of Miami Health System, has heard of Alzheimer\u2019s disease transmission in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe cases were all very young onset, which would make one suspicious that there are extraneous factors involved. Typically, early onset is linked to genetic mutations, but as this was not found, the most likely common attributable cause would be the cadaveric growth hormone treatment. More investigation is needed,\u201d Galvin, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say at this point, there is nothing additional that we need to do as far as clinical practice, but this certainly lends itself to asking new scientific questions. Proteins involved in brain disease, such as prion protein in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, are transmissible,\u201d he said. \u201cAdditionally, other proteins involved in disease, such as alpha-synuclein in Parkinson\u2019s disease and Lewy body dementia, share some of these properties but do not appear to be transmissible. The science of amyloid and tau proteins in Alzheimer\u2019s disease may need to be revisited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Early-onset dementia symptoms in five adults may be connected to a now-discontinued human growth hormone medical treatment that they received decades ago as children, a new study suggests. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, provides the first reported evidence of medically acquired Alzheimer\u2019s disease in living people. In these cases, the patients\u2019 early-onset […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5784],"tags":[26229,1158,1256,26230,7618,3977],"class_list":["post-23232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-cases","tag-health","tag-recipients","tag-transmission","tag-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23236,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232\/revisions\/23236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}