Following similar results published in September, new results again suggest that Alzheimer's disease could possess the potential for transmission between people during certain medical treatments, although scientists are still claiming that both sets of findings require more research in order to be conclusive, according to Nature. The new results are based off of autopsies on the brains of seven people who died of the rare Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). All of these individuals received surgical grafts of dura mater - the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord - decades before their deaths and these grafts were contaminated with the prion protein that causes CJD.
Most interestingly though is that in addition to the damage caused by the prion proteins, five of the brains showed signs of damage typically associated with Alzheimer's disease including amyloid-β protein plaques in the grey matter and blood vessels. Furthermore, the individuals affected were between the ages of 28 and 63, which is very young for these kinds of plaques. These signatures were absent in a set of 21 controls who did not receive surgical grafts of dura mater, although they did die of CJD at similar ages.
The team of researchers believes that the transplanted dura mater contained small "seeds" of amyloid-β protein, which has been linked to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
"Our results are all consistent," says neurologist John Collinge, co-author of the September paper. "The fact that the new study shows the same pathology emerging after a completely different procedure increases our concern."
It is important to note that cadaver-derived human growth hormone (HGH) is not used anymore and neither study suggests that Alzheimer's disease can be transmitted via human contact, according to Gizmodo. However, the implication that it could be transmitted in certain situations is a very serious threat and could stimulate increased attention to certain processes in transplantation medicine, according to Infection Control Today.
The study was published in the Jan. 26 issue of Swiss Medical Weekly.
