In a modern, high-rise building overlooking the grounds of Brisbane, scientists are so close to a breakthrough in dementia treatments that optimism is almost palpable.
Under the direction of the leader of the Cellular and Molecular Neurodegeneration Laboratory Group, Associate Professor Tony White, researchers are quietly studying how brain cells react to different treatments at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. Herston.
Although science does not yet understand the causes of dementia, experts know that in order for existing drugs to be effective, they must penetrate the blood-brain barrier.
And this is proving to be the most difficult aspect of dementia research.
“The brain has a barrier between the blood and the brain to stop anything the brain doesn’t want to get into, such as bacteria or toxins, but it also means that drugs can’t get into the brain,” says Dr. White.
“About 98 percent of all drugs delivered to the brain do not enter.
“So we’re trying to find ways to open that barrier and allow drugs to come in and that’s something we’re very focused on here.
“There are a lot of people working on different drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and dementia, but most of those drugs won’t get into the brain.
“If we can find a way to open the blood-brain barrier to allow drugs to pass from the blood to the brain, this will be a breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
What is dementia?
In a healthy brain, two proteins, amyloid and tau, happily share space.
But in Alzheimer’s patients, the compounds combine and begin to form plaques in the brain tissue that kill healthy brain cells.
Dr. White says these changes in protein interaction occur “very early” in life, but there is still no way to detect them.
“But when you’re between 60 and 70, we start to see an accumulation of amyloid in the brain and the tau builds up inside the neurons and these cause the degeneration of the brain cells and the inflammation of other cells. of the brain.
“It’s not something that happens quickly, it takes decades to happen.”
Dr. White’s team is close to providing a more promising future for the approximately 500,000 people living with dementia in Australia.
Ms. Wasielewska’s work with ultrasound is helping to open the blood-brain barrier and bring more medication where it is needed. (ABC News: Alice Nally)
It was crucial to discover a copper-based drug that removed some of the amyloid plaque that forms in the brain.
This achievement led to a drug that is still in clinical trials.
Dr. White’s current work with PhD student Joanna Wasielewska is also succeeding in using ultrasound to introduce more beneficial drugs into the brain to treat the disease.
From the tissue of dementia patients grow tiny model brains up to 8 mm in diameter to be used in trials. (ABC News: Alice Nally)
While it is often a disease that affects adults, there are about 70 diseases that also cause childhood dementia, a devastating diagnosis for which the QIMR Berghofer team is also focusing on finding answers.
Tiny organs that change research
In a small room in the main lab is a fairly innocuous-looking storage unit.
From the outside, it can be confused with a small bar fridge, but inside there are small rotating discs that contain tiny brains.
Cultivated from the tissue of dementia patients, larger brains measure only 8 mm and take up to two months to grow.
It is these small organs that researchers use to test new ways to break the blood-brain barrier.
Dr. Romal Stewart is in charge of small specimens, which he says need daily care during the first few weeks of life.
Dr. Stewart spends months closely monitoring brain growth. (ABC News: Alice Nally)
“For the first two weeks or so, you have to make daily changes to the media,” he says.
“Scientists will be the only people who will fight against the institutions not to take holidays because sometimes we have to be here all the time.
“During the beginning of the pandemic, it was difficult and we were writing letters asking if we could keep going into the lab.”
This important investigation was allowed to continue despite the restrictions of COVID.
Personal mission for researcher
Dr. White began his career in dementia research 30 years ago and only a decade later it became a tragedy when his mother Patricia was diagnosed with the disease at age 70.
“I worked in the field and understood what was going on. There were no drugs that could suggest that they were going to improve their outcome,” he said.
“My father, who was caring for my mother at the time, often asked about the last treatment and if there was anything on the horizon.
Dr. White says treatments to curb the onset of dementia are possible in the near future. (ABC News: Alice Nally)
“But there was nothing that could help her at that moment.
“It has helped me a lot to focus on trying to find results for people on the track and their own parents and partners.
“Then it was a difficult time because there was nothing really positive, but I think now things are changing as we start to see some positive results from the research.”
Future without dementia possible
With a global team of scientists working daily on how to improve treatments for dementia, Dr. White says there is “absolute” hope for a future without degenerative disease.
“Many decades ago there was no future for people with cancer and when they were diagnosed it was practically a death sentence,” says Dr. White.
“But there are a lot of great treatments for cancer right now.
“I think we are on the verge of this with Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases that over the next few years, or decades, we will see very important treatments that will at least slow down the disease.
“You don’t have to slow down a lot to give people a better quality of life.”
Treatment that gives hope to the youngest
A dementia-free future won’t come in time for Bridget Smith’s father, but she hopes it can be something the mother of three can enjoy.
Garry Smith was admitted to hospital last year with lung problems, but it was there that his dementia suddenly and quickly became impossible to ignore.
Garry and Bridget Smith and Mrs. Smith’s children, Freddie, Louis and Tommy McGovern. Garry Smith was diagnosed with dementia in 2021. (Supplied by: Bridget Smith)
“She’s forgotten things from her past, but certainly not things from her present like me and my boys,” said Ms. Smith, who works on QIMR Berghofer’s communications team.
“The research that people like Dr. Tony White are doing here is amazing.
“And I think I may not be able to save my father, but it’s hereditary and my grandmother had Alzheimer’s, so I’m worried too.
“I’m 43. To think my dad is so young at 76 to have dementia, I hope this research, while not able to help my father, may be able to help my generation.”
QIMR Berghofer’s dementia research team will host a forum on dementia tonight from 5 to 7 p.m.
Register online here.
A recording of the event will also be posted on qimrberghofer.edu.au.
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Posted 3 hours ago Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 10:32 PM, last updated 1 hour, 1 hours ago, Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 12:47 AM