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A study by an American pharmaceutical company claimed to have found the cause of Alzheimer's disease. The villain would be Porphyromonas gingivalis a bacterium badociated with several types of periodontitis – inflammatory diseases of the tissues of the oral cavity, such as gingivitis
. Periodontal diseases affect about one third of the world's population. a new drug blocking the main toxins of bacteria badociated with these conditions will be the subject of major clinical trials later in the year.
The research, published this Wednesday in the journal Science of Science Advances, indicates has the potential to stop and even reverse Alzheimer's disease – including the possibility of a vaccine.
Alzheimer's disease is one of the biggest mysteries of medicine. With the increase in average life expectancy in recent decades, cases of dementia have exploded, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the world. Although Alzheimer's accounts for about 70% of these cases, one must determine the cause
The disease is often badociated with the accumulation of tau and beta-amyloid proteins in the brain. The main theory holds that Alzheimer's disease comes from faulty control of these two proteins. However, recent research has concluded that people can have amyloid plaques without recording dementia, thus defeating this hypothesis.
Several scientific research teams studied the bacterium P orphyromonas gingivalis .
Other studies have also revealed that gum infections could worsen the symptoms in guinea pigs (laboratory mice) and in the absence of Alzheimer's disease , which have been genetically engineered to have Alzheimer's disease and which can cause brain inflammations similar to those of Alzheimer's disease as well as neuronal lesions in healthy mice.
"When science converges from several independent laboratories, it is quite compelling," said Casey Lynch of the cortexyme reported toxic enzymes as the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis uses to feed on human tissue – the so-called gingipains – in 96% of the 54 badyzed samples of Alzheimer's brains. The team also identified the same bacteria in the three Alzheimer's brains whose DNAs were examined.
Porphyromonas gingivalis has also been found in the spinal cord of people with Alzheimer's disease. can help develop a more effective method for diagnosing the disease.
Cortexis has already developed molecules that block the toxic enzymes gingipain. Tested on rats, these molecules reduced their infections, disrupted amyloid protein production, decreased brain inflammation and even recovered damaged neurons.
The antibiotic that kills the bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis allowed the same thing, but with less efficiency, and the bacterium quickly developed a resistance – which n '# 39; was not the case of toxic enzyme blockers.
In October, the US pharmaceutical company revealed that the best of its blockers had pbaded the tests . security initials in people.
In turn, a team of scientists from Melbourne, Australia, is working on the development of a vaccine against Porphyromonas gingivalis with clinical trials starting in 2018. A vaccine against periodontitis would constitute a major advance in medicine – and if the vaccine could also help stop Alzheimer's disease, the impact could be huge.
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