2024-01-30 18:58:23
A new study revealed that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted from one person to another through rare medical incidents, but it confirmed that there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted between people through daily activities or routine care.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, researchers said that a group of people who received treatment with human growth hormone from the pituitary glands of deceased donors developed early Alzheimer’s disease “most likely; Because the hormones used were contaminated with the protein (amyloid beta), which is a major component of Alzheimer’s disease.”
The study team looked at data dating back to the period between 1959 and 1985, relating to 1,848 patients in the United Kingdom who suffered from growth hormone deficiency as children, and who received treatment with human growth hormone extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers.
Treatment with human growth hormone extracted from deceased persons was banned in 1985 after it was discovered that some patients later died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a rare and fatal neurological disorder). As a result of the treatment containing hormones contaminated with proteins that cause the disease.
The study team examined the cases of eight people in particular, who were referred to the National Prion Clinic in the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2022. All of them received human growth hormone from cadavers when they were children, but they did not develop Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
CT scan of the brain of a patient with Alzheimer’s (Reuters)
Despite this, five of them had Alzheimer’s symptoms at an early age.
The researchers noted that the patients showed some symptoms that differed from those typical of Alzheimer’s disease, and said this could be because their disease had a different origin, or arose from different “strains” of the amyloid beta protein.
The team said that the results provide evidence that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted from one person to another as a result of treatment with growth hormone, just like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Professor John Colling, co-author of the study and professor at University College London, said: “We never say that Alzheimer’s disease is transmitted between humans like a viral or bacterial infection. Rather, transmission only occurs when people are accidentally inoculated with human tissue or extracts from human tissue.” It contains proteins that cause the disease. “This is very rare and unusual, fortunately.”
Cowling and colleagues emphasized that the findings make it more important to take measures such as ensuring effective disinfection of surgical instruments.
However, Andrew Doig, professor of biochemistry at the University of Manchester, said that the number of patients participating in the study is not large enough, and there is still no direct evidence that they are infected with different strains of amyloid beta.
He stressed that what is also reassuring is that treatment with human growth hormone extracted from deceased people was stopped more than 40 years ago, adding: “The transmission of the disease from one person’s brain to another’s brain in this way should never happen again.”
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