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Human Immune System Itself Can Cure Alzheimer's Disease
By Saranya on February 08 2015 1:52 AM

http://au.ibtimes.com/human-immune-system-itself-can-cure-alzheimers-disease-1419027


Human immune system itself can cure Alzheimer's disease, reports researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). Irreversible, progressive brain disease causing problems with memory, thinking and behaviour on aging is referred as Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most important public health issue of our period which has no real-time cure, said Terrence Town, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics. He also added that the study demonstrates a way to wipe out the plaques built-up in the brain with the help of body’s immune response, bringing a new hope in cure for the ailment.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia often seen in elderly people, characterised by loss of memory and other mental functionalities. In Alzheimer’s disease, a sticky plaque built-up in the brain made of a special type of protein called beta-amyloid induces memory loss in the patients. The immune system that generally wipes out the toxic protein substances from the body is unable to clear the plaques as it becomes inefficient and imbalanced.

The researchers demonstrated that blocking a substance called the interleukin-10 in genetically modified mouse activates an immune response against the protein beta-amyloid, thereby clearing the plaques. As a result of the plaque clearance, brain cell damage and memory loss were restored in the mouse.

The mouse on immune response activation was reported to have behaved like other normal species without disease in memory and learning tests. The researchers added that further studies on the effectiveness of the drug in blocking interleukin-10 will be carried on the mice that are genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

There are about 36 million people in the world suffering from Alzheimer’s disease now, and if the same pace continues, the figure will reach 115 million by 2050, says the Alzheimer’s Society. Therefore, there is a big time need for an effective drug against Alzheimer’s disease.

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