Amazing stuff! How rare is rare?
"Under extremely rare circumstances, it appears that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted between people. Five people who received contaminated injections of a growth hormone as children went on to develop Alzheimer’s unusually early, researchers report January 29 in Nature Medicine. ..."
From the abstract:
"Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized pathologically by amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposition in brain parenchyma and blood vessels (as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)) and by neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau. Compelling genetic and biomarker evidence supports Aβ as the root cause of AD. We previously reported human transmission of Aβ pathology and CAA in relatively young adults who had died of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (iCJD) after childhood treatment with cadaver-derived pituitary growth hormone (c-hGH) contaminated with both CJD prions and Aβ seeds. This raised the possibility that c-hGH recipients who did not die from iCJD may eventually develop AD. Here we describe recipients who developed dementia and biomarker changes within the phenotypic spectrum of AD, suggesting that AD, like CJD, has environmentally acquired (iatrogenic) forms as well as late-onset sporadic and early-onset inherited forms. Although iatrogenic AD may be rare, and there is no suggestion that Aβ can be transmitted between individuals in activities of daily life, its recognition emphasizes the need to review measures to prevent accidental transmissions via other medical and surgical procedures. As propagating Aβ assemblies may exhibit structural diversity akin to conventional prions, it is possible that therapeutic strategies targeting disease-related assemblies may lead to selection of minor components and development of resistance."
Evidence for iatrogenic transmission of Alzheimer’s disease (no public access) Credible evidence suggests that, under extraordinary circumstances, Alzheimer’s disease may be transmitted by a prion-like mechanism — yielding insights into both the basic biology of this neurodegenerative disorder and strategies for early prevention.
Iatrogenic Alzheimer’s disease in recipients of cadaveric pituitary-derived growth hormone (open access)
A PET scan of the brain of a man who received contaminated growth hormones as a child and later developed Alzheimer’s disease shows higher-than-usual levels of the sticky protein A-beta (purple and orange areas) associated with the disease.
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