Early cases of Alzheimer’s disease appeared in growth hormone recipients in the UK

One of the most serious health crises of the late 20th century^E The century – known as growth hormone, in which children and adolescents became its first victims – reappears with the publication of a British study in the journal Nature Medicine, Monday 23 January. John Collinge’s team (Institute of Prion Diseases, University College, London) describes five patients, who received growth hormone injections before 1985, who were recently diagnosed with atypical Alzheimer’s disease, which appears to have arisen from this treatment.

Aimed at compensating for height loss, the hormone they were given was extracted from pituitary glands taken from dead people, some of whom were carriers of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). If they survived this incurable neurodegenerative disease, which has caused more than 4% of deaths among approximately 1,849 young British patients treated this way between 1959 and 1985, five of the eight patients described in this Nature Medicine Alzheimer’s disease struck early: three died between 47 and 57. The other five are currently between the ages of 54 and 57. Of these, two show signs of cognitive decline without being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and the last is asymptomatic.

According to the British researchers, this observation suggests that similar to incurable prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Alzheimer’s disease may under certain circumstances assume an infectious form in addition to its sporadic or sporadic appearance. is linked to genetic predisposition.

Deadly Aggregates

According to him, this finding has implications in terms of public health and prevention – “For example, by ensuring effective decontamination of surgical instruments”, they write. However, there is “No evidence” That the beta-amyloid protein (Aß), whose accumulation in the form of plaques in the central nervous system is a signature of Alzheimer’s disease, for example, can be transmitted in other contexts. “In daily life, or during the administration of routine care”They clarify.

Prion diseases occur as a result of misfolding of proteins, the new form of which is propagated

Through a domino effect to those close to it, to the point of fatal accumulation in the central nervous system. Other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are also characterized by the formation of protein aggregation or small amino acid chains, peptides, such as Aß – agents known as “prion-like”. (“prion-like”). A study by John Collinge and colleagues strengthens the links that a growing body of work is establishing between these two groups of diseases.

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