
Virus and Two Types of Bacteria as Major Causes of Alzheimer’s - musha68k
http://neurosciencenews.com/microbes-alzheimers-neurology-3826/
======
pcrh
The problem really lies with the fact that within the more than 100,000
published studies on Alzheimer's disease you are bound to find a random
association between this disease and many other things. This is especially
true for observational studies in people, and also true for low-powered
studies in experimental animals.

Experimental science, however, demands that one establishes a cause and effect
relationship. There is no known cure of Alzheimer's disease, so one cannot
refer to experimental medicine for an answer, with the exception of inherited
dominant genetic mutations that impact only a small number of people.
Unfortunately, of these mutations, those affecting the APP gene do not cause
neuronal loss in mice; so the mouse models are inherently problematic.

This editorial calls for a clinical trial for antimicrobials in this disease.
While I doubt that Alzheimer's is caused by infectious agents, there really is
no harm in trying (except perhaps to the pockets of the trial's sponsors). In
fact a trial of the antibiotic minocycline was completed in 2014 [1], however
the results do not appear to have been reported.

[1]
[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01463384](https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01463384)

~~~
jmichelz
There is a known cure for early Alzheimer's. [https://www.aging-
us.com/article/9R5JsRe8k4Jq7uTXj/text](https://www.aging-
us.com/article/9R5JsRe8k4Jq7uTXj/text)

Bredesen DE. Reversal of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. Aging
(Albany NY). 2016 Jun;8(6):1250-8. doi: 10.18632/aging.100981.

Bredesen DE. Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program. Aging
(Albany NY). 2014; 6:707-17. doi: 10.18632/aging.100690.

~~~
pcrh
> _Here we report the results from quantitative MRI and neuropsychological
> testing in ten patients with cognitive decline, nine ApoE4+ (five homozygous
> and four heterozygous) and one ApoE4-, who were treated with the MEND
> protocol for 5-24 months._

The number of patients studied is too few, i.e. is grossly underpowered
statistically, and the results do not allow any general conclusion to be
drawn.

------
MrQuincle
You probably have herpes but that's okay:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2016/03/14/calm-down-herpes-probably-isnt-going-to-give-you-
alzheimers/)

My wife studies Alzheimer's and I hope she will respond here, but I'm afraid
she gets too angry by sensationalist stories based on editorials rather than
mainline research.

Of course there is inflammation involved. From what I understand talking with
her, there is not much mechanistic work done with human tissue; most of it is
with mouse models that can only get parts of the disease.

Interesting to check out: the inflammasome:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammasome](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammasome).

~~~
smoyer
Plus it's hard to take the researcher seriously when it looks like they
created their own university.

"Professor Resia Pretorius of the University of Pretoria"

~~~
adrianN
> Pretoria: Capital of South Africa

founding a city to start your own University sixty years later to publish a
paper another hundred years later, that's what I call the long-con.

~~~
fasteo
LOL

------
officialjunk
From the abstract towards the bottom of the page:

> We refer to the many studies, mainly on humans, implicating specific
> microbes in the elderly brain, notably herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1),
> Chlamydia pneumoniae, and several types of spirochaete, in the etiology of
> AD.

------
1_over_n
slightly off topic but i remember a study from 2010 where it was found
beetroots could help with older adults brain health

the sample size was not huge (14 i think) and it was cited nitrates are the
beneficial agent. It would be interesting to see if there is any association
between the suggested offending microbial activity and nitrates in vitro
before moving on to some sort of in vivo model

[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101102130957.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101102130957.htm)

~~~
grok2
Your reference to nitrates reminded me of this other topic that was on hacker
news today about migraines being caused by microbes in the mouth interacting
with foods containing
nitrates....[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12747773](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12747773)

------
eth0up
It's interesting that viral/bacterial/fungal infections may be attributed to
Alzheimer's - although undemocratically so, I still suspect prions as a
culprit. Below is a link to a lecture by Professor James Ironside, University
of Edinburgh, on the subject of prions. Whether such suspicions are valid or
not, prions are very easy to be fascinated by, and it's a great lecture, IMO:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlIYGYA5q0s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlIYGYA5q0s)

------
jonny_eh
This is from March. Any critiques published?

~~~
cpncrunch
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2016/03/14/calm-down-herpes-probably-isnt-going-to-give-you-
alzheimers/)

------
inputcoffee
I read, with great hope, every Alzheimer's breakthrough but in the last year
alone the key has been found out to be:

1\. Exercise for oxygen

2\. Gum disease

3\. Standing up and feeling a head rush

4\. blood sugar and diabetes

If we can believe each of these 4 is the key insight within 12 months, I have
to wonder at the state of our knowledge about the disease.

~~~
2bitencryption
I've read that we aren't even 100% sure that the beta-amaloyde (spelling?)
plaque, which is so associated with the disease, might not even be a cause but
just a side effect (or even a _protecting_ agent in defense of the disease).

------
M_Grey
If you don't understand that correlation doesn't imply causation, you should
be sent back to your first year of high school and forced to try it all again.

~~~
pmoriarty
What, if not correlation, does imply causation?

~~~
M_Grey
I'm sorry, is that an incredibly lazy way of arguing that correlation _does_
imply causation, but you feel like reversing it and dumping the burden of
proof onto me?

No.

~~~
pcrh
Correlation suggests causation, but does not prove it.

~~~
M_Grey
It suggests correlation; get a big enough dataset and you'll find correlations
all over the place. They don't imply a causal relationship, at all.

[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/heatmap.png](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/heatmap.png)

~~~
pcrh
Indeed, correlations are not sufficient to establish cause. However... things
that do cause a specific effect also tend to correlate. So correlations are a
basis for hypotheses that can be experimentally tested.

To wit, the hypothesis presented in the post linked to by OP can be tested by
treating people with Alzheimer's disease with antimicrobial agents.

Unfortunately, in what concern people (disease and dying) experiments on
humans (aka clinical trials) are expensive, with uncertain returns. So the
experiments that could test hypotheses concerning Alzheimer's disease in real
actual people are rarely performed to the level statistically needed.

Instead we get a plethora of studies in mice with "suggestive"implications for
what might occur in humans. Along with random studies that are not worth more
than anecdotes (see those I commented on above).

