Decades of research show a striking correlation between the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and severe infection with Herpes labialis or HSV1. A new study confirms this link and opens the prospect of a simple preventive treatment, even a vaccination, for one of the most expensive scourges of humanity.
Alzheimer’s disease affects nearly 850,000 people in France and the 2 million mark could be reached by 2030. A veritable epidemic linked, among other things, to the aging of populations, age being the main risk factor for disease. Problem: The causes of this disease are unknown.
A study that confirms other studies
A new study, conducted by British researchers from the University of Manchester, shows Herpes as one of the main factors in the onset of Alzheimer’s. These results, published in the journal Borders, open the field to a treatment, even to a vaccination.
This confirms previous studies that have established a link between Herpes and Alzheimer’s. A post-mortem study has shown that brains with Alzheimer’s disease contained twice as many strains of the Herpes virus as brains free of the neurological disease.
Herpes, a virus that you keep all your life
Herpes virus type 1 (HSV1), or cold sores, remains for life in certain nerve cells (neurons) and immune cells, reactivating when people are weakened by stress or illness. This regular and significant reactivation would subsequently be the cause of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Itzhaki, a researcher at the University of Manchester who has studied the issue for 25 years, has previously shown that cold sores are more common in carriers of APOE-ε4, a variant of the gene that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. . “Our theory is that, in carriers of APOE-ε4, reactivation is more frequent or more damaging in HSV1-infected brain cells, resulting in the accumulation of damage leading to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. “
Herpes virus could account for 50% or more of Alzheimer’s disease cases
To demonstrate this, the researchers analyzed data from the population of Taiwan, where 99.9% of citizens are registered on a national database, allowing searches for information on infections and microbial diseases. Last year, three studies were published, based on these data, on the development of senile dementia, the main cause of which is Alzheimer’s disease, as well as on the treatment of patients with signs of infection by the Herpes virus. The results of these studies confirmed the link between Herpes and Alzheimer’s. HSV1 may be associated with 50% or more of Alzheimer’s disease cases,” says Professor Itzhaki.
This discovery makes it possible to envisage a simple and effective treatment for the disease. “The striking results of this study demonstrate that the risk of Alzheimer’s is much greater in people infected with HSV1 and that specific anti-herpes antiviral treatment would cause a dramatic reduction in the number of people severely affected by HSV1 who develop dementia afterwards”.
Protein deposits as evidence
Results that confirm previous research by Itzhaki and other researchers at the University of Manchester. The latter have in fact discovered that HSV1 causes deposits of proteins characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease: “plaques” between neurons and “tangles” inside them.
“Viral DNA is found very specifically in plaques of brain tissue examined post-mortem in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Major proteins from plaques and tangles also accumulate in cultures of HSV1-infected cells and antiviral drugs can prevent this.”
A vaccine to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s?
Although further work is needed to confirm and define a direct causal link and the mechanism that would explain the link between HSV1 infection and Alzheimer’s disease and why some infected people do not develop Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s, Professor Itzhaki is excited about the prospects for treatment that could go as far as a vaccine.
“Considering that more than 150 publications confirm the role of HSV1 in Alzheimer’s disease, these findings from Taiwan provide strong justification for the use of safe and well-tolerated anti-herpes antivirals to treat Alzheimer’s disease. also to the development of an anti-HSV1 vaccine, which would probably be the most effective treatment.”
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