Alzheimer's Disease Is Completely Reversed by Removing Just One Enzyme in New Study

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine says an experimental treatment has completely reversed Alzheimer's disease in mice by slowly inhibiting the levels of the enzyme BACE1 in their brains, reports Newsweek . The team says the deletion of the protein either prevented or reversed the formation of amyloid plaques. The researchers noted lowering BACE1 levels not only prevented Alzheimer's in mice, but also reversed the disorder in animals who had already begun to show symptoms. Offspring of the original BACE1 reduction mice also experienced a similar reduction in their BACE1 levels, but they lacked the initial protection from the disease and eventually began to form brain plaques. However, as the second generation continued to age, they lost BACE1 activity. By the study's conclusion, this generation exhibited no plaques at all in their brain. Although these results are promising, Dr. Richard Isaacson with New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine's Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic says it is premature to assume the treatment would be effective in humans. "The completely other side of the coin is that 99 percent of all clinical drug trials for Alzheimer's disease have failed, and we don't know why," he notes. "Maybe amyloid plaque buildups isn't the right target."