U researchers are continually searching for clues to unlock the mystery of Alzheimer’s disease, and now researcher Edward Zamrini is leading the U’s participation in a nationwide study researching a drug that could help find a cure.
Zamrini, a professor of neurology at the U, said the Center of Alzheimer’s Care is opening its doors to 10 subjects with the disease.
Although the causes of Alzheimer’s are unknown, researchers believe a family history of Alzheimer’s, head injuries, problems with blood pressure and diabetes are possible contributors to the disease.
The new drug works with two abnormal brain structures found in people with the disease that might be contributors.
“The drug helps break down and prevent…plaques,” Zamrini said.
During this phase of testing, the drug will modify the disease instead of preventing it, Zamrini said.
Zamrini said a cure or preventative drug is difficult to work on because there are multiple symptoms that indicate a person has the disease.
Once the drug is tested, researchers might be able to move forward and use the drug as a cure for the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a condition that affects 30,000 to 40,000 individuals in Utah and more than 5 million people throughout the United States.
Norman Foster, a professor of neurology and the center’s director, describes Alzheimer’s as a disease that impairs memory and two or more additional brain functions, such as the ability to use language or understand where objects are in space.
Zamrini said that Alzheimer’s disease is important to study and cure because unlike other mental impairment disorders like strokes, exercising the brain can’t cure it.
Therapies such as language therapy, which can be extremely effective for stroke victims, do not work with Alzheimer’s patients because the disease deteriorates the brain’s ability to learn.
Foster said that Utah might begin seeing more people affected by the disease as the percentage of elderly people in Utah increases.
Douglas Galasko, the interim director of Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of California in San Diego, is directing the nationwide study. He said this drug is unique in how it tackles the disease. In contrast to the four drugs approved by the Federal Drug Administration already on the market for the disease, the new drug will attack the buildup.
Galasko said the drug could actually become a cure, unlike previous drugs that aim to reduce symptoms in people already affected by the disease.