Could Medical Procedures Transmit Alzheimer's?

A study published in Nature suggests the seeds of Alzheimer's could have been planted by a protein passed to eight persons decades ago in contaminated growth hormones, reports Scientific American . If validated, the implication is that the disease could potentially be transmitted via close contact with the brain tissue of someone with the condition. The eight subjects received doses of human growth hormone as children from the pituitary glands of numerous cadavers. University College London's John Collinge said any risk of transmission is likely only from surgical instruments. All the subjects developed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from the growth hormones, and those same hormones apparently carry the amyloid beta protein, which clumps in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Collinge detected the protein in the subjects' brains and blood vessels, and all eight were in their 30s and 40s, which is too young for so much amyloid beta to be present in normal circumstances. The subjects also developed a condition known as cerebral Aß-amyloid angiopathy, which is found in 90 percent of persons with Alzheimer's. Brown University's Stephen Salloway said the new study and the notion of transmissibility is supported by growing evidence from animal models that the disease process can be triggered by injecting brain tissue from persons with Alzheimer's into animal brains.