ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #3: What do these four things have in common: LSDs, Eye Tests, a Video Game, and Blood Tests?

From the first moment I discovered my dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it seemed like I was alone in this ugly place. Even ones who had loved ones suffering in this way; even though people TALKED about the disease, it felt for me like they did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting Alzheimer’s research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “Hyperspectral imaging for early detection of Alzheimer's Disease” as well as hints that there’s a new blood test to detect Alzheimer’s brain changes.

What do LSDs, SEA HERO QUEST, Hyperspectral Imaging, and aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau isoforms have in common?

They’re all attempts at creating simplified tests for Alzheimer’s.

Huh? Simple tests? Can they be accurate? Well, that’s NOT what anyone is claiming.

All two of them look particularly at the formation of something called beta-amyloid plaques. What’s a “beta-amyloid plaque”? “Beta-amyloid is a small piece of a larger protein…that they don’t really understand – it does something, they just don’t know WHAT, but they do know HOW. It “extends from the inside of brain cells to the outside by passing through the fatty membrane around the cell.” To work, it has to be “cut by other proteins into separate, smaller sections that stay inside and outside cells.” Beta-amyloid is ‘stickier’ than pieces and clumps together forming a “hallmark of a brain affected by Alzheimer’s. The pieces first form small… [chunks]…then chains…then ‘mats’… and finally “clumps of” ‘mats’ that’s called a plaque. (https://www.alz.org/national/documents/topicsheet_betaamyloid.pdf

On the other hand, numerous drugs and treatments aimed at plaques have come to nothing. My dad took a drug designed to remove plaques for years…

The other culprit is something called tangles.

LSDs

A few weeks ago, an entirely new player entered the battle to identify and treat Alzheimer’s and related diseases:  “Plaques and tangles have so far been the focus of attention in this progressive disease that currently afflicts more than 5.5 million people in the United States. Plaques, deposits of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid, look like clumps in the spaces between neurons. Tangles, twisted fibers of tau, another protein, look like bundles of fibers that build up inside cells.

“The dominant theory based on beta-amyloid buildup has been around for decades, and dozens of clinical trials based on that theory have been attempted, but all have failed," said Ryan R. Julian, a professor of chemistry who led the research team. ‘In addition to plaques, lysosomal storage is observed in brains of people who have Alzheimer's disease. Neurons -- fragile cells that do not undergo cell division -- are susceptible to lysosomal problems, specifically, lysosomal storage, which we report is a likely cause of Alzheimer's disease.”

The HECK is lysosomal storage???

“The lysosome is sometimes called ‘the cell's recycling center’ because it breaks down stuff a cell CAN’T into something that it CAN…Lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) happen when the cell is missing a single enzyme it has to have to break down fats and very complicated sugars called glycoproteins. In regular LSDs, ‘symptoms show up within a few weeks after birth and are often fatal within a couple of years.’”

So what does all of this have to do with Alzheimer’s?

Last of all, detecting LSDs in Alzheimer’s patients is currently a THEORY. There is no test for it.

The Blood Test

The blood test (also a recent development), can detect the presence of beta-amyloids in a person not just who has started the cognitive decline (often times by then it’s simply too late to do anything – like it was with my dad), but years and perhaps DECADES before there are any noticeable cognitive changes at all. Specifically, this test looks for “biomarkers” in a method called “the A/T/N classification system…in which ‘A’ represents Aβ biomarker concentrations, ‘T’ refers to the level of tau biomarkers, and ‘N’ reflects neurodegeneration biomarkers or neuronal injury…” ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s12276-019-0250-2)

Hyperspectral Imaging

A method used to look into someone’s eyes (which are reportedly the window to the soul), which apparently is ALSO a window into the brain, specifically, (once again), in order to detect these beta-amyloids which appear on the retina.

Video Game

In the interest of saving time, you can read the article on the video game here:

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20190425/Scientists-develop-new-video-game-that-may-help-in-the-study-of-Alzheimers.aspx

As my daughter and son-in-law are both video gamers, (and will have a bit of INFREQUENT down time in the next few weeks as they work to create the “new normal” that comes with a new baby…), I’d like to take a whack at playing this game and seeing exactly what it might say about MY brain.

Hyperspectral Imaging:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03466177

https://drugdesign.umn.edu/research/alzheimers-disease-research

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319112.php, https://www.news-medical.net/news/20190425/Scientists-develop-new-video-game-that-may-help-in-the-study-of-Alzheimers.aspx

blood test:

https://time.com/5641602/blood-test-may-be-up-to-94-accurate-in-finding-people-with-alzheimers-brain-changes/

LSDs: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190812144930.htm

Image:  https://dvgpg3ae3f3oh.cloudfront.net/uploads/146235251840294/resize_then_crop_500_350.png

ENCORE #115! – Dealing With Restless Limb Syndrome

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was eight years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry appeared in January of 2015.

First of course, the definition: “Restless legs syndrome (RLS) also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (WED) or Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome, is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one's body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations. It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, head, and even phantom limbs. Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief.”

Once again, this is something my wife has struggled with. But instead of breast cancer causing it, it has exacerbated it. She’s had RLS her whole life (at least since she was six years old!) Breast cancer – double mastectomy, aggressive tri-weekly chemotherapy (Taxotere + Adriamycin + Cytoxan and the next day, neulasta), followed by five years of anastrazole – just made it...weirder.

I first experienced when we got married. At night, before falling asleep, she would move her legs in order to “short-circuit” the odd sensations. That seemed to work. Then the cancer diagnosis and treatment and as of right now, it has manifested itself by odd sensations in her LEFT arm. This is odd because the removal of sentinel nodes and the resulting lymphedema was in the RIGHT pit and arm (sounds like a medieval British pub, doesn’t it...).

Current research suggests “...exercise, avoiding RLS precipitants (caffeine, alcohol, antidepressants, antihistamines); exercise; counter stimulus to sensory symptoms (hot or cold baths, limb massage, compression stockings, counter-pulsation devices); herbal medicines and acupuncture; and cognitive behavioral therapy.”

Her first “go to” was to up her calcium intake: “Dehydration, prolonged sitting, or not getting enough potassium, calcium or magnesium in your diet can be associated with leg cramps. So can certain medications -- including diuretics, beta blockers and other blood pressure drugs. Sometimes, these cramps also may be related to an underlying metabolic condition, such as an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) or a parathyroid condition. Diabetes or other conditions that disrupt your metabolism can also cause muscle cramps.”

The calcium chews she’d been doing were originally to counter the bone debilitation caused by the chemotherapy, so she stopped for a while. The RLS increased and now she uses the calcium chews as well as a hot water bottle to lower the intensity of the sensations.

As I wrote earlier, we’ve also started a regimen of exercise together – alternating strength training (after a visit with the Planet Fitness trainer) and cardio – we usually do a half an hour of stationary biking. The hot water bottle was a “new development” and has been remarkably effective.

I’ll note here something we HAVE NOT tried, but is a recent development: “In 2014, the FDA approved a device that provides electrical stimulation to the legs as a non-medication treatment for restless legs syndrome. Studies suggest this treatment can be quite helpful. Although it is generally well tolerated, it occasionally causes a temporary worsening of symptoms, leg cramps, soreness and motion sickness.” My guess is that this is an outgrowth of the device developed for those who suffer from chronic pain, what’s called Microcurrent Electrical Therapy.

Taken all together, the “therapies” seem to be working for the time being. It’s also light years better than adding ANOTHER pill to her already abundant storehouse!

Resources: http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?productid=1328&pageaction=displayproduct, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-13/lifestyle/sns-201204131600--tms--mayoclnctnmc-a20120413apr13_1_leg-cramps-restless-legs-syndrome-calf-muscles, https://www.intelihealth.com/article/restless-legs-syndrome

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

BREAST CANCER RESEARCH RIGHT NOW! #68: Slow Down and Stop! Engineers and Cancer Biologists MAY have found a Way To Change the Migration of BC Cells!

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…

Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share them with you. Today: “A team from Ohio State University have built a tool that could target cancer cell migration.”

The horror of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) slapped me in the face again this week when a friend of mine confided concerns that there were signs that his wife was showing symptoms of MBC.

As I’ve reported before, there are several kinds of MBC – primarily bone, lung, liver, and brain MBC (If you’re interested in details, the posts below delve into the most common five types):

MBC of the bones: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/encore-99-metastatic-breast-cancer-bone.html

MBC of the lungs: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/encore-100-metastatic-breast-cancer.html

MBC of the liver: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/12/metastatic-breast-cancer-liver-cancer.html

MBC of the brain: https://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2019/01/encore-102-metastatic-breast-cancer.html

Obviously researchers have been searching for (among other things) reasons why SOME people get MBC and others don’t, and why SOME people have recurring cancers and others don’t.

“Researchers believe electromagnetic fields can help. While this has been a point of interest for years, it is only recently that experts have begun to unravel the mechanism.”

What’s THAT mean?

The paper is complex and…um…was FANTASTIC to read because I actually still understand most of the biology talk!

But to Summarize In English…hmmm…that may be tough!

OK – some physics first: if you take a bar of iron and push it through a coil of copper wire with an electric current running through it (which makes a magnetic field), you generate electricity. That’s how the motor in your dryer makes the tub spin. This is called an “induced (aka, you made it on purpose) electrical field". Its abbreviation is “iEF”. At a certain strength, you can make things move without touching them by using this iEF.

Certain iEFs are known as tumor treating fields (TTFs). They’ve been reported to target dividing cells (like cancer cells) and stop them from dividing and making more cancer cells.

These researchers have found out that it possible to create a directional field that hinders (slows down or stops) the migration of MBCs in a test tube. The electrical engineers don't know exactly HOW it happens, but they think that with more research, they can devise a way to set up a sort of “electric fence” that keeps cancer cells from moving into other parts of the body.

It’s HIGHLY experimental, but the EFFECTS of the iEFs have been known for a long time: they can change the direction of moving cells. The next step is to see if the same fields can keep cancer cells in experimental mice from moving from one place to another – also known as metastatic breast cancer.

Resources: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326070.php, https://www.verywellhealth.com/different-types-of-metastatic-breast-cancer-4154705

The Actual Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0550-z.epdf

Image: https://images.mid-day.com/images/2018/jun/anxiety-cancer-causes_d.jpg

ENCORE #114! – Urine Test May Detect Early Signs of Breast Cancer!

From the first moment my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The following entry first appeared in June 2015.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/15/193

In Germany, a team of doctors at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center (Freiburg) have applied for a patent for a method they discovered for simplifying the detection of breast cancer in a urine sample.

With half a million women dying from breast cancer world-wide, the effectiveness of early intervention and treatment, and “Up to now, doctors have made the diagnosis by mammography or ultrasound and confirmed it with tissue samples...methods [that] have been subject to recurring criticism due to radiation exposure, erroneous results, and the fact that they involve an invasive intervention,” the possibility of reaching more women, faster, and cheaper is very much a “golden ring” in breast cancer research.

While the test was small (24 women without breast cancer, and 24 women with stage 1, 2, or 3 breast cancer), the test was able to correctly determine whether or not breast cancer was present 91% of the time. Further testing is being planned even as I write this.

How does it find evidence of breast cancer?

By highlighting certain parts of a cell called “microRNA”. What’s that? In this case, “micro” refers to how small the piece of RNA is – 20 bits (or nucleotides) long. Not visible under a regular  microscope, for sure. But visible to tests designed to highlight them, absolutely. What’s RNA?

Most people know that DNA is the stuff in a cell that makes us who we are. My DNA coded for me being a Guy, blonde hair, blue eyes, and about six feet tall – as well as all sorts of other stuff.

When my cells split, especially while I was growing, a piece of RNA was made from the DNA of my cells. Then the RNA kicked in, helping in the process of making a protein. Proteins then transfer messages to cells – in the case of cancer, it directs the cell to grow without stopping. (If you’re REALLY interested in this, start with this article, then go to the Science Daily one, and then to the BioMedCentral Journal article.)

This microRNA then is floating around in the blood. It turns out that four of those kinds of microRNA are specific to breast cancer. It’s these bits that this new test has been able to identify.

Please note, this has only been successful in ONE trial. The methodology has to be developed into a real tool that ANYONE can use – in particular, the possibility of it being used in developing countries and that it does not require invading the body more than necessary is particularly hopeful!

But we HAVE TO WAIT!

With great hope.

UPDATE: (April, 2018) “A new method for early and accurate breast cancer screening has been developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center, using commercially available technology…gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to quantify substances found in urine…revamped statistical analyses of urine samples submitted both by healthy patients and those diagnosed with breast cancer yielded 85 percent average accuracy.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180425120253.htm

Resources: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150611091935.htm

Image: https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5527/10893068965_1d328e8f71_b.jpg

GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…Alzheimer’s #25: After Alzheimer’s

Dad’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s stayed hidden from everyone until I took over the medical administration of my parents in 2015. Once I found out, there was a deafening silence from most of the people I know even though virtually all of them would add, “My _____ had Alzheimer’s…” But there was little help, little beyond people sadly shaking heads. Or horror stories. Lots of those. Even the ones who knew about the disease seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Alzheimer’s Command and did little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started this part of my blog…

While my wife and I were celebrating our 32^nd anniversary, I chanced to start thinking about how this was the first summer in…hmmm

How many years has it been since Mom and Dad’s lives collided with mine? Not that it was an accident; not that it wasn’t necessary; but once I became the neighborhood contact and helper for my parents, my life changed drastically. Spontaneity vanished. We couldn’t just “drive up North" or go camping without making plans and preparing and notifying people.

Learning an entirely new vocabulary, I became a lay-expert on the disease, its symptoms, and its non-treatment. I added it to my breast cancer blog because the advent of the disease in my father and also my mother (who had, most likely, age-related dementia at the end) abruptly dominated my life as much as breast cancer had.

How many years?

We interred Dad’s remains this summer six weeks and two days ago (June 27, 2019); he passed six months ago (February 4, 2019). Mom passed away three years ago (July 27, 2016). They moved into Assisted Living in September of 2015 (I think – but that doesn’t seem like that LONG ago! Could Mom and Dad have declined to a point of death in just four short years? It doesn’t seem possible!) Yet, it happened.

I was a regular visitor to Mom and Dad’s for a couple of years before that as Mom had stopped driving and I took over getting her to her appointments. Of course, that was about the time she began her serious decline. We’d discussed them moving out of their townhome because of her decreasing mobility and Dad’s increasing memory issues. They fought that one tooth-and-nail for a long time. Then Mom had her last knee replacement. She was certain she’d bounce back just like she had from the previous one. She was around my age – in her early sixties – when she started the process of becoming a “bionic woman” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bionic_Woman) with both hips and both knees replaced, as well as wearing a pacemaker. It was our standing joke.

But when she was in her early 80s, she begged for and eventually got, her second knee replacement. But she wasn’t a kid anymore and afterward, she was in so much pain, she refused to do PT. She refused to walk. Edema set in. I started coming to their home to help; and discovered Dad’s “pill system”. I got permission to see Mom’s records (because I was going to all of her appointments and taking her to the hospital) and eventually Dad’s medical records as well, for the same reason…the rest, shall we say, is history.

So, a minimum of a year before they moved into assisted living: five years. So five years in which my grandchildren aged, my son and daughter aged, my daughter got married six months after my mom passed – and we were able to add a “taco bar” to the reception menu, which is what new son-in-law had wanted from the beginning.

Let’s say a half of a decade.

Wasted, some people would say. For me, it was a time of incredibly rough growth. I am not the man I was four or five years ago. What kind of man am I now? Hmmm. I’m not sure yet. If you follow the blog, maybe you’ll see me change or the better.

Images from my personal files.