Researchers at the University of Colorado in the United States found that the viruses that cause Covid-19, herpes zoster, cold sores and chickenpox are aggravating factors that can lead to a higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s following infection. The survey, published in September 2022 on the pre-print study platform bioRxivis in progress and should be officially released in March of this year.
To date, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Available treatments mainly consist of preventing and reducing aggravating factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
To carry out the research, scientists used cutting-edge technology to investigate messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein networks in the olfactory system of patients with Alzheimer’s. By focusing on the brain’s most vulnerable entry point, the nose, they found evidence of a strong viral response.
The body uses a specific mRNA sequence to produce a network of proteins that are used to fight certain viruses. Scientists explain that, in some cases, the organism continues to activate these pathways even following the virus is eliminated, leading to chronic inflammation and tissue damage.
Identifying which mRNA and protein sequences are present in a patient’s body might allow scientists to deduce, to some extent, whether the body is or was responding to viral illnesses at some point.
In samples from people who have hereditary Alzheimer’s, the researchers found altered gene expression, indicating signs of an old viral infection in the olfactory bulb, as well as inflammatory immune responses in the olfactory nerve.
The Alzheimer’s disease process can begin a few years before symptoms appear. The researchers suggest that viruses act by triggering a series of events that leads to illness and then disappearing — when they analyzed the patients’ brains, they found no detectable viral components.
virus action
Many of the viruses associated with dementia, including Covid-19 and shingles, enter the nose and interact with the olfactory system. The sense of smell is daily bombarded with odors, pollutants and pathogens. Particles inhaled through the nose bind to some olfactory receptor cells in the tissue lining the nasal cavity.
These receptors send messages to other cells in the olfactory bulb, which acts as a relay station for messages along the olfactory nerve. The information is then transferred to the area of the brain responsible for learning and memory, the hippocampus, which also plays a critical role in assigning contextual information to odors.
The hippocampus is drastically affected by Alzheimer’s. According to researchers, between 85% and 90% of Alzheimer’s patients show an early sign of olfactory loss. However, the mechanism that leads to such loss is relatively unknown.
Like muscles that atrophy from lack of use, researchers believe that sensory deprivation leads to atrophy of the brain regions that interpret this information.
The scientists argue that doing more research investigating how viral infections can trigger neurodegeneration might help in the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines once morest the viruses implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.
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