Alzheimer's Disease: Type 3 Diabetes?

Filed in archive Developments , Information , Research on September 27, 2007

On several occasions, I have mentioned the possible link between Alzheimer's disease and diabetes - mainly because many researches have hypothesized and found evidence on the said association.

Now, a new U.S study (published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal) has claimed that the memory loss in Alzheimer's disease may be a third type of diabetes:

[...showed a toxic protein found in Alzheimer's patients - amyloid-beta derived diffusible ligand, or ADDL - removes insulin receptors from nerve cells making them insulin resistant and stopping brain insulin signaling crucial for memory.]

Research team leader William L. Klein, of Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, stated:

"We found the binding of ADDLs to synapses somehow prevents insulin receptors from accumulating at the synapses where they are needed. Instead, they are piling up where they are made, in the cell body, near the nucleus.

Insulin cannot reach receptors there. This finding is the first molecular evidence of why nerve cells should become insulin resistant in Alzheimer's disease."

This fundamental connection between the two conditions offers hope for the development of future therapeutics.

Source: Science Daily; FASEBJ Abstract