Investigators at the Florida campus of Mayo Clinic identified distinct subtypes of Alzheimer’s disease, including one that occurs most often in middle-aged adults and is rapidly progressive and another type that occurs most often in very old patients that advances slowly. In the study, published in the July 28 online edition of Lancet Neurology, the neuroscientists say that patients in the first subtype are more often misdiagnosed during life and thought to have disorders that are unrelated to Alzheimer’s disease, such as frontal lobe dementia or progressive aphasia.
According to the lead investigator, Melissa Murray, Ph.D., a research fellow, there may be differences in the gene for tau protein (which makes up “tau tangles”) that predisposes individuals to the rapidly progressing form of Alzheimer’s disease. In contrast, risk for Alzheimer’s disease that is slowly progressive and common in very old patients may be linked to differences in the gene for apolipoprotein E.
“As effective disease-modifying therapies are developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, it will be important to recognize early onset, rapidly progressive variants of this disorder so that these patients may benefit from proper therapy,” says the study’s senior investigator, neuropathologist Dennis Dickson, M.D. “A goal of ongoing research efforts at Mayo Clinic is to identify better ways to diagnosis subtypes of Alzheimer’s disease in life with genetic tests, medical imaging and blood or spinal fluid tests.”
I am 52 yrs and I have been fogetting little things qite often,
I didn’t realize that there were two types of Alzheimer’s. Do you use the same treatment for both?
I just read an article about Niacinamide not only slowing, but also revesing Alzheimers. Do you have any research on that?
Have you heard about Natural Cellular Defense(NCD) being used to with Alzheimer’s patients? If so, what type of response did they receive?
Hello and thanks for your comments and questions. We have forwarded both for your review by the Neurology department so hope to have an answer for you soon. Thank you.
I am a 50 year old who noticeed about a year ago that i would forget what I was doing alot, to the point I had to ask someone to help. Now it’s had for me to learn anything new and people have to repeat things to me several times sometimes I get it and times I don’t. My dr. put me on aricept 5mg. I’m not feeling or seeing a differanc I’ve been on it now for 3 weeks. They said my mri was normal. The dr. said he thinks it’s early onset alzheimers but I can’t find alot of information on it. could you please help me?
Thank you for your note. Unfortunately, we cannot diagnose conditions, provide second opinions or make specific treatment recommendations through this correspondence. If you would like to seek help from Mayo Clinic, please call one of our appointment offices at:
Arizona: 480-301-1735
Florida: 904-953-0853
Minnesota: 507-284-2511
Also, here is a link to Alzheimer’s Disease information: http://www.mayoclinic.org/alzheimers-disease/.