Alzheimer's Club

Beware simplicity of lay reports: read major subject science journal now: Neurobiology of Lipids

"Ann Todd was shocked when she first realized something was wrong with her husband, Ronald.

"He called the sheriff's office to report that some of his tools had been stolen," she said. "And when I came home from work he told me about it. I realized he had forgotten that he had given them to our son."

That day marked the beginning of the Monterey couple's nine-year struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Ronald died last year.

Like many Alzheimer's patients, Ronald Todd had high cholesterol. But the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering drug he was taking forced him to quit the medication.

Since then, Ann Todd, a registered nurse, said she has read about studies that found similar drugs might actually slow the progression of the disease.

"That's hopeful," she said.

Now, several California universities are participating in a nationwide study of 400 patients to determine whether a drug commonly prescribed to reduce cholesterol can, in fact, slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The large-scale study, which began in December 2002, is specifically focused on the drug simvastatin, commonly known as Zocor. Universities including Stanford and University of California campuses at Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles and San Diego recruited Alzheimer's patients to participate. Each of the 40 universities involved in the study chose 10 to 15 patients who had normal cholesterol levels and no signs of stroke or head injuries.

"We review patients' medical records and history," said Alena Penchonkina, who works at Stanford's Aging Clinical Research Center and is involved in the study. "They have complete physical and neurological evaluations, plus MRI scans of their brains to rule out other causes of memory loss like stroke or tumors."

Unless a physician dissects a patient's brain, however, there is no way to confirm whether he or she has Alzheimer's disease. By ruling out all the other known causes of dementia and memory loss, physicians are about 90 percent accurate when diagnosing Alzheimer's disease.

Every patient in the study must also have a study partner to observe their progress, report any problems and make sure they are taking the medication.

Physicians monitor the patients' progress periodically and keep in regular contact with the study partner. They evaluate the patients by talking to them and by giving them tests. For example, patients can be tested to see if they can remember names, keep track of where they are or draw something specific.

When designing this study, scientists at the National Institute of Aging said they wanted to test a cholesterol-lowering drug that was commonly prescribed, relatively inexpensive and could cross the blood-brain barrier to gain access to the brains of Alzheimer's patients. They chose Zocor, which, according to manufacturer Merck & Co., was prescribed more than 200 million times over the past 12 years in the United States.

Study federally funded

Merck holds patents on the drug but did not sponsor the study, which is one of many being funded by the federal government. This year, Alzheimer's disease research received about $647 million from the federal government.

Some scientists believe that lowering cholesterol levels in the body changes chemical reactions in the brain and slows the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Already, studies have shown that controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and weight can help reduce the risk of the disease.

Previously, small-scale studies with 20 to 50 patients have shown that cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as Lipitor and Zocor, may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The disease, sometimes referred to as "the long goodbye," attacks the minds of the elderly over the course of decades. Alzheimer's patients typically begin by losing their memory. Eventually dementia takes over. As their minds degenerate, Alzheimer's patients can regress to the point of babbling like a baby and being unable to stand or swallow.

With the aging baby-boom generation, the number of Alzheimer's patients is likely to increase. Currently, an estimated 220,000 people in Northern California struggle with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association, a national research and advocacy group based in Chicago.

By 2050, the association estimates that more than 600,000 Northern Californians will be diagnosed with the disease..."

Source: Juhi Yajnik. Ray of hope in Alzheimer's struggle: Cholesterol drug may slow progress of brain disease. The Herald (29 November 2005) [FullText]