Alzheimer's disease could be tackled by treating patients' livers

Alzheimer's disease could be tackled by treating the liver of sufferers, so they can dispose of a toxic protein linked to the illness.
Telegraph.co.UK
By Lucy Cockcroft


Scientists believe that helping the liver to clear amyloid-beta protein from the blood could provide a new way of combating the devastating effects of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia.

Alzheimer's, which causes progressive loss of memory and mental faculties, affects almost 417,000 people in Britain, including fantasy author Terry Pratchett who is campaigning for more research into the disease.

A key characteristic of the disease is the accumulation of neuron-damaging amyloid-beta (A-beta) in the brain.

New research shows that levels of the protein in the brain are affected by their levels in the peripheral blood stream.

Scientists in the US and Hong Kong manipulated the livers of laboratory rats to increase blood levels of amyloid-beta. One of the liver's primary jobs is to remove toxic substances from the blood stream.

The researchers found that raising A-beta blood levels slowed down the speed at which molecules of the protein were swept from the rats' brains.

The findings, reported in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, support the theory that freely circulating amyloid-beta concentrations outside the brain can regulate clearance rates inside the central nervous system.

Dr David Cook, from the University of Washington School of Medicine said: "We knew from previous work that the liver plays an important role in removing A-beta from the blood. So, we thought if we temporarily prevented liver-mediated clearance it might be possible to set or 'clamp' peripheral A-beta levels long enough to find out whether A-beta in the blood stream affects A-beta clearance from the brain.

"We were a bit surprised to see how effective this strategy was. Peripheral A-beta clearance immediately halted almost completely. For several years it has been suggested that the circulatory system can act like an A-beta sink. The data clearly show that the liver is the primary drain."

Co-author Dr Sum Lee, from the University of Hong Kong, said: "The liver influences virtually everything that happens in the body, so it is not far-fetched to imagine that in the future it may be possible to find ways to help the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients with their livers."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "This new study shows us just how complex Alzheimer's disease is, suggesting.........read the whole article

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