NEW DEVELOPMENTS FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
By William Brunson
Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 and there are more than 6 million Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2022, the total lifetime cost of care for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease/dementia is estimated at $412,936, with 70% of those costs borne by the family caregivers. In the U.S., Alzheimer’s disease costs $321B and is expected to top $1Trillion by 2050. Globally, there are 55 million Alzheimer’s patients, and this is increasing by 10 million new cases each year. By 2050 there will be more than 139 million people with Alzheimer’s.
Despite billions of dollars in research and drug development on Alzheimer’s today, there is still no safe and effective treatment for this disease that is very clearly defined and understood, with known mechanisms relevant to onset and progression. The major reason is because most drugs have been developed to act against the beta amyloid plaques and tau tangles that are associated with and characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Yet these pathologies associated with Alzheimer’s are the consequences of the disease and are not the cause of the disease.
SPECT scans of the brains of Alzheimer’s patients show there is a loss of regulation of blood flow to parts of the brain. The holes in the brain reveal areas where there is hypoxia/ischemia, meaning insufficient circulation and a deprivation of oxygen to those areas.
This loss of regulation of blood flow is due to the loss of Nitric Oxide in the lining of the blood vessels of the brain. This is called endothelial dysfunction. The proper function of the endothelial cells is to maintain the blood brain barrier and to produce Nitric Oxide to maintain proper circulation and oxygen delivery to all parts of the brain.
Loss of nitric oxide production also causes insulin resistance and leads to diabetes, as Alzheimer’s is now often referred to as Diabetes Type 3. If Nitric Oxide is not restored, there is insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress and immune dysfunction that occurs in the brain cells, which is the root cause of Alzheimer’s. Over time this leads to protein misfolding and toxin buildup which is identified as beta amyloid plaques and tau tangles.
Nitric Oxide works as a retrograde neurotransmitter in synapses, allowing an increase in brain blood flow and has important roles in intracellular signaling in neurons. Multiple stages of Alzheimer’s Disease: Nitric Oxide works as a retrograde neurotransmitter in synapses, allowing an increase in brain blood flow and has important roles in intracellular signaling in neurons.
NEW RESEARCH FOR NITRIC OXIDE AND ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
HumanEnos LLC and Therapeutic Solutions Inc. will collaborate on clinical trials in the US to study the effects of Nitric Oxide on Alzheimer’s Disease.
HumanEnos’ Nitric Oxide technology is the result of 17 years of research, development and continued scientific validation of its metabolite’s capabilities in the areas of cardiovascular and brain-blood flow, hypertension, sleep dysfunction, diabetes, inflammation, atopic dermatitis, cognitive dysfunction, menopause and wound care for diabetic ulcers and pressure sores. They are also recruiting two clinical trials in South Korean universities, studying the effect of their Nitric Oxide metabolite on patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
HumanEnos has developed unique NO formulations that are currently the subject of numerous clinical trials and was selected as a national project by the South Korean government for a comparison study with Aricept in a study comprised of 90 human patients. This is a promising series of trials and may be the first development that can effectively target the primary causal factors related to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.