New hope for Alzheimer’s treatment breakthrough within 20 years after scientists discovered 92 genes

Alzheimer’s experts believe that a life-changing treatment for the most common form of the disease will be found within the next 20 years.

A team from Cardiff University has now identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, when only three were known when their research began in 2009.

Professor Julie Williams, director of the Cardiff Dementia Centre, said: ‘By 2040 I think we will be in a position to offer a range of treatments and we may not know exactly why, but one of them will be able to act on a large scale. a bunch of reasons.

Gene therapy and improved understanding from international studies are contributing to increased expert knowledge of the disease – one of the biggest causes of death in the UK for people over 50.

Professor Williams, who was awarded a CBE for her work, said: ‘Once you know where to start your research, you can study the effects that genes have on specific brain activity.

A team from Cardiff University has now identified 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (stock image)

She studied Alzheimer’s disease for 30 years and said, “Things are accelerating and getting better all the time. I’ve learned more in the past seven years than I have in the past 20.”

Exams that cost millions in the 1990s can be done for about £30.

A development in the research means that experts have discovered that microglia, known as “Ben Laureates of the brain” mistakenly kill healthy brain cells, including synapses.

Synapses are connections between nerve cells, and if they are unnecessarily worn out, they can cause a person to lose the connections that generate thought and memories.

But Prof Williams told the BBC that having studied thousands of cases, she realized there would not be a single weapon.

Instead, the disease should be considered more like a heart disease in which many factors contribute, and many treatments will help delay and prevent it.

Some of the drugs are already licensed for use in other Alzheimer’s conditions and may be used within five years.

Professor Tara Spears-Jones, a leading expert at the University of Edinburgh, told the Daily Mail last year that a drug to halt the progression of memory problems beyond initial mild disorientation could be available within a decade.

Some drugs are already approved for use in other Alzheimer’s conditions and could be used within five years (stock image)

‘I’d caution against using the word cure, which is a very strong word,’ she said, ‘but I think we’ll have a disease-modifying drug in 10 years.

This is a drug that could stop Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks, or even – although this is less likely – reverse it once it starts.

“I know all these decades of research may seem depressing, as there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s, but game-changing miracle drugs have been found for other brain diseases, and one of them is coming for this disease.”

Professor Spears-Jones said neuroscience had recently made some big gains, including the discovery of Zolgensma, which helps children with severe spinal muscular atrophy crawl and walk for the first time.

The expert was particularly excited by research on the “Sigma-2 receptor,” which is found in brain cells and appears to attract clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Early research suggests, though only in 19 people, that a drug that blocks this process can prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease.