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Drug May Repair DNA at Earliest Stages of Alzheimer’s – And it’s Already Passed Safety Trials (www.goodnewsnetwork.org)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 3 months ago* (5 children)

Interesting. I had no idea genetic damage was linked to Alzheimer's disease. Thought it was chance/inherent genetics, a bit like cancer is.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Genetics barely explains 1% of Alzheimer. The problem with Alzheimer dementia, FTD, is that they are likely many causes with a common outcome.

    Some AD is caused by diabetes. Some AD is caused by trisonomy 21, Down's syndrome. Some AD is caused by venous blood restriction.

    In later life, the brain accumulates a lot of reactive oxygen species that old mitochondria can't handle, the result of that oxidation is elevated DNA damage. Some people have efficient DNA repair, some do not. Why? Efficient DNA repair can promote cancer.

    In the broad picture of humans, those that avoid cancer are more likely to get AD, an vice versa.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

    There are genetic forms of early onset Alzheimer's that run in families. The majority of the cases are not that though. I personally believe the typical cause is a combination of environment and viruses. A similar thing has been happening with bee populations where a chemical weakens their ability to deal with parasites and viruses.

    The most recent thing I read is a connection between tires and Alzheimer's.

    https://www.newsweek.com/common-tire-chemical-may-raise-alzheimers-risk-study-finds-12172062

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 child)

    Someone reports a new cause of Alzheimers every week. There is a huge amount of junk science with Alzheimers. At one point, it was picking your nose.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago

    Yes, in the past this has been true. Also, the chemical world is incredibly complex and we have trouble modeling single chemical interactions with the human body let alone multiple. As I mentioned we are seeing latent viruses as the cause of other neurological syndromes like Multiple Sclerosis (from mono) and Parkinson's (from pegavirus).

    The truth is it may be several factors that are exacerbating the ability of these viruses to cause damage and we are still not able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Part of this is grouping many different possible causes under a single syndrome like we see with genetic Alzheimer's and environmentally related/viral Alzheimer's.

    I have had the displeasure of working with Alzheimer's for over a decade. It truly is a horrible disease that steals your loved ones away before you eyes.

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