Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Rising longevity and cognitive health: Navigating dementia and treatment

Ken Blaker
Conditions
August 29, 2023
Share
Tweet
Share

The comedian George Burns once quipped, “By the time you’re eighty years old, you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it.” With the average life expectancy in the United States up from 54 a century ago to 74 today, the damage that can be done by aging and mental decline is more prevalent than ever. We see evidence of it all too often in our world leaders, families, and communities.

My friend Barry is 81 and very active. He runs a small business, loves to finish his deli lunch with a piece of cake, and then rides his bicycle everywhere. This morning he took a wrong turn on his way to work for the first time in over 45 years, and I’m starting to worry that his “senior moments” are turning into something more serious: the dreaded dementia.

When the most common form of dementia was first described over a hundred years ago in a fifty-year-old patient, Dr. Alzheimer noted that it was characterized by nerve tangles and “senile plaques.” By using the word “senile,” he was suggesting that these plaques could be expected in an older patient, almost implying that they may be inevitable with age. However, scientific understanding has grown greatly since his time. We know that physiological changes always have a cause, not merely a calendar.

In recent weeks, the FDA’s full approval of the drug Leqembi made headlines. It is a monoclonal antibody that cleans up plaque proteins associated with Alzheimer’s. The drug helps slow the progress of the disease, but because it performs a powerful cleanup in the central nervous system, it also has serious potential side effects. Even advocates are asking the FDA for additional guidance in making a risk/benefit analysis for specific patients, because it is not benign, and because the physician’s oath still applies: to do no harm.

The problem with Leqembi and other anti-plaque drugs on the approval path is that even when they work, they never cure the patient. And if fixing the plaques does not fix the disease, the clear implication is that these drugs are not treating an underlying cause.

Looking for underlying causes, researchers have focused for over thirty years on neuroinflammation, and many anti-inflammatory agents have been tested as prospective cures for Alzheimer’s, ranging from NSAIDs like ibuprofen to the rheumatoid arthritis drug etanercept (Enbrel). While there have been glimmers of hope in early clinical trials, there are currently no anti-neuroinflammation drugs available for prescription. And of the thousands of drugs being investigated for Alzheimer’s, only seventeen anti-neuroinflammation candidates are in trials.

More recently, a prospective path to find an underlying cause has opened up through advances in DNA and RNA analysis. Over time, our genetic blueprints accumulate changes that are sometimes reversible and change the way our cells work. We become less resilient, more inflamed, and more susceptible to age-related decline and disease. So perhaps diseases can be treated by reversing those genetic changes. In the case of Alzheimer’s, there are specific genetic changes that have been connected to the disease.

This summer, clinical data for one of the anti-neuroinflammation candidate drugs, NE3107, was analyzed to determine the drug’s effect on patient genes. In a controlled Phase 2 clinical trial, patients showed improved cognition. And concurrently, their DNA showed that genetic decline had been reversed at hundreds of sites. While it was already known that patients with the disease show epigenetic interference at those sites, these results connect the restoration of cognition with restored gene health.

These results in a small test are not conclusive, but larger clinical tests are underway for this candidate and several other anti-neuroinflammation drugs. One of these may be the first to truly stop or reverse Alzheimer’s, which will likely relegate anti-plaque treatments to a fading memory.

Ken Blaker is a Los Angeles-based health care and technology consultant focused on medical devices and FDA compliance. As an author, Ken has written on a variety of topics, including treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, cancer research, and the opioid epidemic.

Prev

The sacred profession of doctoring

August 29, 2023 Kevin 0
…
Next

Navigating a malicious medical malpractice lawsuit: a case study

August 29, 2023 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Neurology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The sacred profession of doctoring
Next Post >
Navigating a malicious medical malpractice lawsuit: a case study

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Ken Blaker

  • Treating inflammation provides hope in the fight against Parkinson’s

    Ken Blaker
  • When mandates fail to protect, science can help

    Ken Blaker

Related Posts

  • Are negative news cycles and social media injurious to our health?

    Rabia Jalal, MD
  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Sharing mental health issues on social media

    Tarena Lofton
  • 3 ways to advance the credibility of online health information

    Robert Pearl, MD
  • How did we let insurers run health care?

    Gary Lawson and Marcia Lawson
  • Digital health equity is an emerging gap in health

    Joshua W. Elder, MD, MPH and Tamara Scott

More in Conditions

  • What the research really says about infrared saunas

    Khushali Jhaveri, MD
  • How the cycle of rage is affecting physicians—and how to break free

    Alexandra M.P. Brito, MD and Jennifer L. Hartwell, MD
  • Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

    Katharina Schwan, MPH
  • It’s time for pain protocols to catch up with the opioid crisis

    Sarah White, APRN
  • Earwax could hold secrets to cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease

    Sandra Vamos, EdD and Domenic Alaimo
  • Why male fertility needs to be part of every health conversation

    Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • What the research really says about infrared saunas

      Khushali Jhaveri, MD | Conditions
    • How the cycle of rage is affecting physicians—and how to break free

      Alexandra M.P. Brito, MD and Jennifer L. Hartwell, MD | Conditions
    • Why ADHD in adults is often missed—and why it matters [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

      Katharina Schwan, MPH | Conditions
    • It’s time for pain protocols to catch up with the opioid crisis

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • First impressions happen online—not in your exam room

      Sara Meyer | Social media

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • My journey from misdiagnosis to living fully with APBD

      Jeff Cooper | Conditions
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • What the research really says about infrared saunas

      Khushali Jhaveri, MD | Conditions
    • How the cycle of rage is affecting physicians—and how to break free

      Alexandra M.P. Brito, MD and Jennifer L. Hartwell, MD | Conditions
    • Why ADHD in adults is often missed—and why it matters [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

      Katharina Schwan, MPH | Conditions
    • It’s time for pain protocols to catch up with the opioid crisis

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • First impressions happen online—not in your exam room

      Sara Meyer | Social media

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...