A sad record. At 19, a young man living in China has Alzheimer’s disease. According to Beijing scientists, he would be the youngest patient to receive such a diagnosis. Even rarer, he does not carry a genetic mutation and there is no no medical history in his family.
As revealed by Daily Mailtests and scans revealed that his hypothalamus had shrunk. The patient also showed damage to his temporal lobe and elevated levels of tau protein. Further brain imaging showed that his hippocampus was atrophied. “Hippocampal atrophy is commonly attributed to the buildup of tau protein that builds up inside neurons and a buildup of plaque in the brain caused by Alzheimer’s disease,” explains the Daily Mail which also confirms an abnormally high presence of the p-tau181 protein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
“Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimer’s disease”
“This is the youngest case ever reported to meet the diagnostic criteria for a probable [maladie d’Alzheimer] without genetic mutations recognized,” the authors noted in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease last January 31. Before completing:[L’étude] proposed to pay attention to early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimer’s disease might become one of the most challenging scientific questions of the future.”
In this study, the researchers came to this conclusion by performing a series of diagnostic tests to identify biomarkers of the disease. For this, they carried out cognitive tests in which the patient had to listen and repeat a series of words. Through this, they concluded that his memory was “significantly” impaired.