A novel study revealed that protein produced in cases of rheumatoid arthritis seems to protect against the development of Alzheimer’s disease. An artificial version of GM-CSF protein called Leukine was already used to treat cancers. People who suffer from arthritis their immune system went overdrive and produced attacking proteins including GM-CSF.
In a lab study researchers from University of South Florida hereditarily changed mice to have memory problems analogous to those seen in Alzheimer’s disease, that is a form of dementia. Some healthy mice were give treatment with the protein while others were given placebo treatment.
After the twenty days of study, mice having Alzheimer’s and treated with GM-CSF did substantially better in test which measured memory and learning and performed well when compared to mice with same age without the disease. It was also shown that healthy mice treated with GM-CSF performed faintly better than their untreated peers.
The team proposed that protein can attack an incursion of cells known as microglia from the tangential supply of blood around the brain that then assault the attribute plaques that form in people with the condition. Microglias are similar to the body’s usual debris collectors that go to inflamed areas to chuck out toxic substances.
The brain scans of mice treated with GM-CSF showed more than fifty percent reduction in beta amyloid. It is substance that forms plaques of Alzheimer’s. There was also an evident boost in nerve cell connections in the brains of mice treated with GM-CSF. It could the reason for reverse in memory decline.
Their discovery gives a convincing elucidation for why rheumatoid arthritis is a negative risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, said lead researcher Dr Huntington Potter from the University of South Florida’s Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.