Finally a drug against Alzheimer’s

Today in France, more than one million people are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, with 225,000 new cases each year.

Alzheimer’s disease and genetics

If it is favored by certain environmental factors (arterial hypertension, sleep apnea, low school level, etc.), theonset of Alzheimer’s disease is also a matter of genes. A few months ago, French researchers from the Institut Pasteur in Lille probed the genomes of more than 111,000 patients and 677,000 controls to find out more. Result: they discovered that 75 chromosomal regions can play a role in triggering Alzheimer’s¹, of which 42 were previously unknown. A major step forward for the development of new treatments.

Are there medications for Alzheimer’s disease?

On the side of drugs to fight Alzheimer’s, there is also progress. It’s called Lecanemab, and it’s expected to be approved for use in the United States in early 2023. If taken very early, this monoclonal antibody seems slow the progression of the disease. But specialists remain cautious: if the results are significant from a statistical point of view, in practice, it is likely that only a very small fraction of patients derives a real benefit from this molecule. Even so, it is already progress. And, above all, scientists agree that there will probably never be a single drug capable of treat all the sickbut rather a multitude of molecules to be prescribed according to the genetic particularities of the patients and the form ofAlzheimer which they are affected. And Lecanemab is a priori the first of them.

Better detection of Alzheimer’s disease

A simple blood test to detect Alzheimer’s? Scientists have been dreaming regarding it for a long time and are finally reaching the goal. A specific marker – the phosphorylated form of the tau protein – which already makes it possible to identify the disease by lumbar puncture in the cerebrospinal fluid, might also be used to tracking down signs of dementia from blood plasma.

Thanks to Jean-Charles Lambert, neuroscientist and research director at Inserm, UMR 1167.

1. New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, publiée dans Nature Genetics.

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