More Brain Points

Edit Disease Out of Our Lives?

Currently, it is hard to find someone in our society who is unaffected by Alzheimer’s disease, especially with a larger aging population. The Alzheimer’s association defines Alzheimer’s as “a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior.” Family history can be a cause to Alzheimer’s disease, specifically identified risk and deterministic genes (Risk Factors). During Dr. Robert Morrison’s talk, as well as in his research, he and his colleagues tackle what Alzheimer’s disease entails day to day and what work can be done to combat symptoms as well as make steps toward an eventual cure.

Throughout his lecture, Dr. Morrison refers to the physical symptoms for Alzheimer’s termed neuritic plaques and tangles. He also addresses the relationship between tangles and plaques and how they lead to neuron death. As Alzheimer’s advances, the tangles specifically spread throughout the brain (as shown in figure 1).

Based on Dr. Morrison and his colleagues’ research, the best defense against Alzheimer’s now is early detection. Besides EEGs and other physical measurements of neural deterioration, different cognitive studies are being done to determine early signs of damage. While progress has been made in detection, approximately 44 million people are still affected by Alzheimer’s disease (2015 Alzheimer’s Statistics). The prevalence of this disease has led to other, possibly less accepted, solutions.

In Scientific American, Jonathan D. Moreno explores developments in gene editing technology. The main thought behind gene editing is “instead of genetic engineering for one person why not eliminate that disease trait from all of her or his descendants?” (Moreno).

The main technique explored in the article is known as CRISPR, or clustered interspaced short palindromic repeats. Moreno describes CRISPR as “scissors in the form of an enzyme that cuts DNA strands and an RNA guide that knows where to make the cut, so the traits expressed by the gene are changed.” While there is much ethical debate about this technique, CRISPR could be an effective way to begin to eliminate heritable diseases.

CRISPR, along with other forms of gene editing, could be a possible answer to Alzheimer’s disease. Descendants of patients with or once had Alzheimer’s disease could be good candidates for this technique. From there, other subjects could be examined to determine whether they are at risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Genetic editing could be the answer to many diseases, including Alzheimer’s, but multiple steps need to be taken by the Scientific community and policymakers before genetic editing will be a viable solution.

Figure 1: http://journals.lww.com/neurotodayonline/PublishingImages/alzheimers-brain-small.jpg

Works Cited

   "Alzheimer's & Dementia Risk Factors | Alzheimer's Association." Alzheimer's &

Dementia Risk Factors | Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's Association, 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.

"Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia | Alzheimer's Association." Alzheimer's Disease &

Dementia | Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's Association, 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.

"Alzheimer's Statistics." Alzheimers.net. A Place for Mom, Inc., 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 

2015.

 "Compensatory processing during rule- based category learning in older adults." Krishna

L. Bharani , Ken A. Paller , Paul J. Reber , Sandra Weintraub , Jorge Yanar ,

Robert G. Morrison. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition.

Moreno, Jonathan D. "Where to Draw the Line on Gene-Editing Technology." Scientific

American. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA,

INC., 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.