Latest news with #Yankner
Extra.ie
13 hours ago
- Health
- Extra.ie
Possible cure for alzheimers
A team of researchers iin the United States has identified a deficiency they believe could be the root cause of Alzheimers disease. The team at Harvard Medical School believe they may have found a drug that can prevent and even reverse the crippling effects of the disease. Their findings are based on 10 years of research, which includes tests on lab mice and also analysis of human brain tissue and blood samples. Pic: Solskin/Getty Images A new report published in the New York Post, shows researchers found that a loss of 'lithium', a mineral which occurs naturally in the brain, is one of the earliest indicators of the onset of Alzheimer's, and adding lithium protects it from deteriorating. Bruce Yankner, professor of genetics and neurology in the Blavatnik Institute in Harvard says 'The idea that lithium deficiency could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease is new and suggests a different therapeutic approach,' In the experiments, mice were treated with lithium orotate. Researchers found that the treatment prevented brain cell damage, and restored memory, even in older mice with an advanced form of alzheimers. Elderly couple – Pic: Katarzyna Grabowska/Unsplash Professor Yankner said 'What impresses me the most about lithium is the widespread effect it has on the various manifestations of Alzheimer's. I really have not seen anything quite like it in all my years of working on this disease'. These promising results may potentially provide a new standard for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, and another finding to come out of the study was that maintaining stable levels of lithium in early life, can prevent the onset of Alzheimers altogether. Boston, MA – August 4: Liviu Aron, an author of a recent medical paper detailing findings about lithium's connection to Alzheimer's disease, examines preparations of human brain samples for analysis in the Harvard research lab on August 4, 2025. (Photo by Heather Diehl/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) The findings also support previous population studies that revealed that higher lithium levels in the environment, particularly in drinking water, correlated with lower rates of dementia in those areas. Alzheimer's has baffled the medical community for decades as the disease and its causes are far from uniform across the board, with many people with amyloid protein buildup showing no signs of cognitive decline, and others developing the disease. Boston, MA – August 4: Dr. Bruce Yankner poses for a portrait in his office next to a photograph of a brain with Alzheimers on August 4, 2025. (Photo by Heather Diehl/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Though genetic and environmental factors play a role, scientists are unsure why the disease develops in some with these factors and not others. Now doctors believe they may have found the critical missing link and a possible cure for Alzheimers. In conclusion, Professor Yankner expressed his hopes that litium will do something 'more fundamental than anti-amyloid or anti-tau therapies, not just lessening but reversing cognitive decline and improving patients' lives.'
UPI
a day ago
- Health
- UPI
Researchers: Small traces of lithium may help prevent Alzheimer's
A Harvard Medical School and Rush University study suggests tiny amounts of lithium may help protect the brain from Alzheimer's and signs of aging. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News Tiny amounts of lithium -- a natural metal -- may help protect the brain from Alzheimer's and signs of aging, new research shows. Scientists at Harvard Medical School and Rush University found that when mice were fed a low-lithium diet, their brains developed more inflammation and signs of aging accelerated. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Turns out, lithium may play a critical role in how the brain stays healthy, the researchers found. In the study, they compared normal mice to mice bred to develop brain changes linked to Alzheimer's, including a build-up of sticky proteins. Mice on low-lithium diets developed problems more quickly, while those given a specific lithium compound called lithium orotate saw signs of brain improvement. When given lithium orotate, mice had fewer memory problems and fewer of the sticky clumps known as beta amyloid plaques. In people, those plaques are hallmarks of Alzheimer's. Many people know lithium as a drug used to treat bipolar disorder and depression. It's been used for decades. But this study suggests that very small amounts of lithium are naturally present in the body, and it may be essential for brain health. Researchers suspect that beta amyloid binds to lithium and prevents it from reaching brain cells that need it. Without enough lithium, cells called microglia, which help clean up waste in the brain, stop working properly. This creates a sort of cycle: As beta amyloid builds up, even less lithium is available and the brain has a harder time clearing the damaging proteins. In the first stage of the study, scientists tested brain tissue and blood samples from people with and without Alzheimer's. They looked at 27 metals and found a key difference: Lithium levels were much lower in the brains of people with memory problems. They repeated this test using brain samples from multiple hospitals and universities and found the same results. "At first, frankly, we were skeptical of the result because it wasn't expected," Dr. Bruce Yankner, a professor of genetics at Harvard, told CNN. Experts warn that people should not take lithium supplements without medical advice. The doses used in this study were about 1,000 times lower than the doses used to treat mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder. "A mouse is not a human. Nobody should take anything based just on mouse studies," Yankner said. "The lithium treatment data we have is in mice, and it needs to be replicated in humans. We need to find the right dose in humans," he added. Still, the findings are promising. Mice who received low doses of lithium orotate did not show any signs of toxicity or organ damage. Yankner hopes human trials will start soon. Many healthy foods contain small amounts of lithium. These include: Leafy green vegetables Nuts and legumes Certain spices like turmeric and cumin Some mineral waters Previous studies have hinted at lithium's benefits. One large Danish study found people with higher lithium levels in their tap water were less likely to be diagnosed with dementia. Another study in the U.K. found people prescribed lithium were about half as likely to get Alzheimer's as those who were not. Ashley Bush, a neuroscientist in Australia, wrote an editorial that accompanied the new research. He said it presents "compelling evidence that lithium does in fact have a physiological role and that normal aging might impair the regulation of lithium levels in the brain." Yankner pointed to the possible benefit. "It is a potential candidate for a common mechanism leading to the multisystem degeneration of the brain that precedes dementia," he told CNN. "It will take a lot more science to determine whether this is a common pathway... or one of several pathways," to Alzheimer's, he added. "The data are very intriguing." More information The Mayo Clinic has more on lithium. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
This drug could prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's: ‘I've not seen anything quite like it,' says doc
A team of researchers at Harvard Medical School has identified a deficiency they believe could be the root cause of Alzheimer's. Better yet, they believe a drug could prevent and reverse the crippling disease. Published in Nature, the findings are based on 10 years of research that includes lab mice and analysis of human brain tissue and blood samples. Alzheimer's disease — which affects an estimated 7 million Americans — is notoriously difficult to detect, especially in its initial stages. Proxima Studio – Researchers found that a loss of lithium, a mineral which occurs naturally in the brain, is one of the earliest indicators of the onset of Alzheimer's — and adding lithium protects it from deteriorating. 'The idea that lithium deficiency could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease is new and suggests a different therapeutic approach,' said senior author Bruce Yankner, professor of genetics and neurology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS. In their experiments, mice were treated with lithium orotate. They found that it prevented brain cell damage and restored memory, even in older mice with advanced disease. 'What impresses me the most about lithium is the widespread effect it has on the various manifestations of Alzheimer's. I really have not seen anything quite like it all my years of working on this disease,' said Yankner. Notably, scientists also found that maintaining stable lithium levels in early life prevented the onset of Alzheimer's. These promising results may potentially provide a new standard for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. The findings also support previous population studies that revealed that higher lithium levels in the environment, particularly in drinking water, correlated with lower rates of dementia. Alzheimer's has long baffled experts as the expression of the disease and its causes are far from uniform. onimate – Alzheimer's has long baffled experts as the expression of the disease and its causes are far from uniform. Many people with amyloid protein buildup show no signs of decline, and treatments that target it have thus far proven ineffective at reversing memory loss and, at best, only slightly reduce the rate of decline. Though genetic and environmental factors play a role, scientists are unsure why the disease develops in some with these factors and not others. The study authors believe lithium may be the critical missing link. 'My hope is that lithium will do something more fundamental than anti-amyloid or anti-tau therapies, not just lessening but reversing cognitive decline and improving patients' lives,' said Yankner. Yankner and his team stressed that their findings need to be confirmed through clinical trials in humans, but remain hopeful that measuring lithium levels could help screen for and treat Alzheimer's 'You have to be careful about extrapolating from mouse models, and you never know until you try it in a controlled human clinical trial,' Yankner said. 'But so far the results are very encouraging.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Breakthrough study finds deficiency of this common nutrient could contribute to Alzheimer's
A deficiency of the metal lithium in the body could be a key factor contributing to the development of dementia in Alzherimer's patients, a groundbreaking new study reveals. The decade-long research, published in the journal Nature, shows for the first time that lithium occurs naturally in the brain and maintains the normal function of all its major cell types, preventing nerves from degradation. Scientists from Harvard Medical School found that lithium loss in the human brain is one of the earliest changes leading to Alzheimer's, while in mice, a similar lithium depletion accelerated memory decline. A reduced lithium level was found in some cases due to the metal's impaired uptake and its binding to amyloid plaques, which are known to be smoking gun signs of Alzheimer's. Researchers also showed that a new type of lithium compound – lithium orotate – can avoid capture by amyloid plaques and restore memory in mice. In the study, scientists used an advanced type of mass spectroscopy chemical analysis method to measure trace levels of about 30 different metals in the brain and blood samples from a range of people, including cognitively healthy people, those in an early stage of dementia, and those with advanced Alzheimer's. The analysis revealed that lithium was the only metal with markedly different levels across groups, which also seemed to change at the earliest stages of memory loss. 'Lithium turns out to be like other nutrients we get from the environment, such as iron and vitamin C,' study senior author Bruce Yankner said. 'It's the first time anyone's shown that lithium exists at a natural level that's biologically meaningful without giving it as a drug,' Dr Yankner said. Although lithium compounds have been historically in use to treat a range of mental conditions like bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, in these cases, they are given at much higher concentrations that could even be toxic to older people. Scientists have now found that lithium orotate is effective at one-thousandth this dose – enough to mimic the natural level of lithium in the brain. The latest findings with lithium orotate, however, needs to be confirmed in humans via clinical trials. Yet, researchers suspect that measuring lithium levels could help screen people for early Alzheimer's. The findings revise the theory of Alzheimer's disease, which affects nearly 400 million people worldwide, offering a new strategy for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Decades of studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease involves an array of brain abnormalities, including clumps of the protein amyloid beta, tangles of the protein tau, and a loss of the brain's protective protein REST. However, these abnormalities have never fully explained the condition. For instance, it remains unclear why some people with Alzheimer's-like changes in the brain never go on to develop dementia or cognitive decline. Recent treatments developed to target amyloid beta plaques also don't seem to reverse memory loss, only modestly reducing the rate of cognitive decline. Now, scientists say lithium could be the critical missing link. 'The idea that lithium deficiency could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease is new and suggests a different therapeutic approach,' Dr Yankner said. 'You have to be careful about extrapolating from mouse models, and you never know until you try it in a controlled human clinical trial... But so far the results are very encouraging,' he added.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Research on reversing Alzheimer's reveals lithium as potential key
Seven years of investigation by scientists at Harvard Medical School has revealed that the loss of the metal lithium plays a powerful role in Alzheimer's disease, a finding that could lead to earlier detection, new treatments and a broader understanding of how the brain ages. Researchers led by Bruce A. Yankner, a professor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School, reported that they were able to reverse the disease in mice and restore brain function with small amounts of the compound lithium orotate, enough to mimic the metal's natural level in the brain. Their study appeared Wednesday in the journal Nature. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. 'The obvious impact is that because lithium orotate is dirt cheap, hopefully we will get rigorous, randomized trials testing this very, very quickly,' said Matt Kaeberlein, former director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington, who did not participate in the study. 'And I would say that it will be an embarrassment to the Alzheimer's clinical community if that doesn't happen right away.' Yankner, who is also the co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard, said: 'I do not recommend that people take lithium at this point, because it has not been validated as a treatment in humans. We always have to be cautious because things can change as you go from mice to humans.' He added that the findings still need to be validated by other labs. Although there have been recent breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer's, no medication has succeeded in stopping or reversing the disease that afflicts more than 7 million Americans, a number projected to reach almost 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Lithium is widely prescribed for patients with bipolar disorder, and previous research indicated that it held potential as an Alzheimer's treatment and an antiaging medication. A 2017 study in Denmark suggested the presence of lithium in drinking water might be associated with a lower incidence of dementia. However, the new work is the first to describe the specific roles that lithium plays in the brain, its influence on all of the brain's major cell types and the effect that its deficiency later in life has on aging. Results of the study by Yankner's lab and researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago also suggest that measuring lithium levels might help doctors screen people for signs of Alzheimer's years before the first symptoms begin to appear. Yankner said doctors might be able to measure lithium levels in the cerebrospinal fluid or blood, or through brain imaging. - - - How our brains use lithium In a healthy brain, lithium maintains the connections and communication lines that allow neurons to talk with one another. The metal also helps form the myelin that coats and insulates the communication lines and helps microglial cells clear cellular debris that can impede brain function. 'In normal aging mice,' Yankner said, 'lithium promotes good memory function. In normal aging humans,' higher lithium levels also correspond to better memory function. The depletion of lithium in the brain plays a role in most of the deterioration in several mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. Loss of lithium accelerates the development of harmful clumps of the protein amyloid beta and tangles of the protein tau that resemble the structures found in people with Alzheimer's. Amyloid plaques and tau tangles disrupt communication between nerve cells. The plaques in turn undermine lithium by trapping it, weakening its ability to help the brain function. Lithium depletion is involved in other destructive processes of Alzheimer's: decay of brain synapses, damage to the myelin that protects nerve fibers and reduced capacity of microglial cells to break down amyloid plaques. Lithium's pervasive role comes despite the fact that our brains contain only a small amount of it. After examining more than 500 human brains from Rush and other brain banks, Yankner's team discovered the naturally occurring lithium in the brain is 1,000 times less than the lithium provided in medications to treat bipolar disorder. Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who was not involved in the study, called it 'very exciting,' especially when many in the field, including her own lab, have focused on genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's. 'But clearly genetic risk factors are not the only things,' said Tsai, who is also Picower professor of neuroscience. 'There are a lot of people walking around carrying these risk genes, but they are not affected by Alzheimer's disease. I feel this study provides a very important piece of the puzzle.' - - - Pathways for treatment Alzheimer's treatments mostly help to manage symptoms and slow the decline it causes in thinking and functioning. Aducanumab, lecanemab, and donanemab, all lab-made antibodies, bind to the harmful amyloid plaques and help remove them. Donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine ― all in the class of medications known as cholinesterase inhibitors ― work by replenishing a chemical messenger called acetylcholine, which is diminished in Alzheimer's. Acetylcholine plays an important role in memory, muscle movement and attention. Yankner and his team found that when they gave otherwise healthy mice a reduced-lithium diet, the mice lost brain synapses and began to lose memory. 'We found that when we administered lithium orotate to aging mice [that had] started losing their memory, the lithium orotate actually reverted their memory to the young adult, six month level,' he said. Lithium orotate helped the mice reduce production of the amyloid plaques and tau tangles, and allowed the microglial cells to remove the plaques much more effectively. Yankner said one factor that might help lithium orotate reach clinical trials sooner is the small amount of the treatment needed, which could greatly reduce the risk of harmful side effects, such as kidney dysfunction and thyroid toxicity. Aside from its potential in treating Alzheimer's, Yankner said lithium orotate might also have implications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, an area his lab is investigating. 'That needs to be rigorously examined,' he said. 'But we're looking at a whole slew of disorders.' Related Content Trump is threatening to take over D.C. Here's what he can and can't do. They once shared recipes. Now her family is going hungry in Gaza. Pets are being abandoned, surrendered amid Trump's immigration crackdown Solve the daily Crossword
