I recently participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Boston. I’ve been participating in these walks for 15 years in support of finding a prevention, treatment, and/or cure for what is an epidemic. I often ask myself, where is this money I raise going? Well, most importantly, it is going to fund research and science trials to find that prevention, treatment and/or cure that we are all waiting for. When I researched what is out there for possible success stories, I found information to support a promising vaccine for Alzheimer’s being tested with people living with Down’s Syndrome.
People living with Down’s Syndrome are close to having 100% chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease by the time they reach the age of 60. Approximately 40% of people living with Down’s Syndrome develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease by the age of 40, and 50%, by the age of 50. We are all living longer and people living with Down’s Syndrome are living longer too. Age is the number one risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. This is a fact for those living with or without Down’s Syndrome.
A person living with Down’s Syndrome has Beta Amyloid present at birth. Beta Amyloid is the protein building plaque that is responsible for killing brain cells. This predisposition of a person living with Down’s Syndrome creates the opportunity for scientists to compare the effectiveness of the vaccine to a person living with Alzheimer’s disease. People living with Down’s Syndrome have an extra chromosome 21. Chromosome 21 is responsible for coding the gene for amyloid protein.
“Imagine someday a drug that we all start taking when we’re 25 so we never get Alzheimer’s disease.” This vaccine is working on three aspects of treatment. The first goal is to boost the immune system. The second is the successful prevention of further amyloid plague build-up. Lastly, is to target the current build-up of amyloid plaques and reduce them.
In our history we’ve eradicated or decreased the numbers of various fatal diseases. We are on our way to eradicating Alzheimer’s disease; however, there are so many other forms of dementia diseases, like Parkinson’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia disease which begin with other proteins such as alpha synuclein. I do believe that someday we will be successful in eliminating these dementia diseases. We are currently facing an epidemic of dementia diseases. All we can do is HOPE!
