Does removing amyloid beta reduce cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s?
A promising new drug is undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials.
Vocabulary:clinical trial, Alzheimer’s disease, beta-amyloid, tau protein, blood-brain barrier
NGSS: LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits, ETS2.A: Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology, CCC2: Cause and Effect: Mechanism and Explanation,
CCSS: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9–10.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11–12.1
Cancer and heart disease may be the two biggest killers in the U.S., but thanks to advances in medicine, they’re certainly not the death sentences they once were. That’s not the case with Alzheimer’s disease. Compared to treatments available for other leading killers, we’re years away from a successful therapy — let alone a cure — for the 5 million people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
But a promising new drug has researchers hopeful. Aducanumab, developed by the pharmaceutical giant Biogen, is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials. Results from a Phase 1b safety trial, after being presented last year, were recently published in the journal Nature. The data suggest that the drug is clearing amyloid beta — widely thought to be the cause of cognitive decline — from the brains of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. There are still safety concerns associated with the drug, and researchers do not yet know if removing amyloid beta significantly improves cognitive decline. But as Heather Snyder, the senior director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer’s Association explains, there is reason to hope that a treatment for Alzheimer’s is finally on the horizon.
Print this segment transcript.
Questions for Students
- If Aducanumab was shown to improve brain function in patients during Phase 1, why does it need to go through further clinical trials? What effect do you think the clinical trial process has on the time it takes to develop treatments for diseases?
- What is a clinical trial? Why are clinical trials required in medical research?
- PET imaging allows researchers to detects the levels of beta amyloid in living individuals. Why is this an important advancement for Alzheimer’s disease research?
- The buildup of beta amyloid and/or a protein called tau are two hallmark brain changes that define Alzheimer’s disease. Along with other factors mentioned by Dr. Snyder, why is Alzheimer’s viewed as a complex disease? How does that change the approach to treating it?
Activity Suggestion
- Take students on a deeper dive with a video primer on Alzheimer’s disease, a video that takes a closer look the visible differences in brain tissue between patients with and without Alzheimer’s disease, and an interactive that explores the evidence used to determine research targets for Alzheimer’s.
- One of risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease is family history. Use this case study from the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science to have students explore genetic testing and early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease (EOFAD).
- Have students discuss the effect of sleep on amyloid beta buildup with this article and graph.
