Scientists Explore Cancer's Connection to Alzheimer's Disease

"However, researchers have found some evidence that cancer might contribute to lowering one's risk of Alzheimer's. It's something that merits further study; if there's a way to figure out the reason for this reduced risk without the accompanying cancer, it could go a long way towards helping people avoid dementia as they age. A paper published earlier this month in the journal Cell took a deeper look at this phenomenon."

"As one of the paper's authors, Youming Lu of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told Nature's Heidi Ledford, the scientists researching this discovered that, in mice, cancer resulted in mice not having brain plaques. As the researchers continued their work, they found that a type of protein created by cancer cells could traverse the blood-brain barrier. Once in the brain, these proteins drew the attention of immune cells, which reduced the amount of plaques there."

Evidence indicates some cancers are associated with lower Alzheimer's risk. Laboratory work in mice showed cancer presence correlated with absence of brain plaques. Cancer cells can produce proteins capable of crossing the blood–brain barrier. Once inside the brain, these proteins attract immune cells that reduce amyloid plaque burden. The mechanism links peripheral tumors to central nervous system immune responses that alter plaque accumulation. Translating these findings to humans and isolating protective molecular effects without inducing cancer require further investigation to develop preventative or therapeutic approaches for dementia.

Read at InsideHook