The Carpets of Alzheimer’s Disease

• Aging
• Alzheimer's
• beta amyloid
• biotech
• Curing Alzheimer's
• Dementia
• mitochondria
• solanezumab
• tau protein
• Telomerase
• Telomeres

Why do Alzheimer’s interventions always fail?

Whether you ask investors or pharmaceutical companies, it has become axiomatic that Alzheimer’s “has been a graveyard for many a company”, regardless of what they try. But in a fundamental way, all past and all current companies – whether big pharma or small biotech – try the same approach. The problem is that while they work hard at the details, they never examine their premises. They uniformly fail to appreciate the conceptual complexity involved in the pathology of Alzheimer’s. They clearly see the technical complexity, but ignore the deeper complexity. They see the specific molecule and the specific gene, but they ignore the ongoing processes that drive Alzheimer’s. Focusing on a simplistic interpretation of the pathology, they apply themselves – if with admirable dedication and financing – to the specific details, such a beta amyloid deposition.

But WHY do we have beta amyloid deposits? Why do tau proteins tangle, why do mitochondria get sloppy, and why does inflammation occur in the first place? Focusing on outcomes, rather than basic processes explains why all prior efforts have failed to affect the course of the disease, let alone offer a cure for Alzheimer’s.

Let’s use an analogy: think of a maintenance service. Any big organization, (university, pharmaceutical firm, group law practice, or hospital) has a maintenance budget. Routine maintenance ensures that – in the offices, clinics, or laboratories – carpets are vacuumed, walls are repainted, windows are cleaned, floors are mopped, and all the little details are taken care of on a regular basis. These are the details that make a place appear clean and well-cared for, providing a pleasant and healthy location. In most offices (as in our cells), we are often unaware of the maintenance, but quite aware of the end result: an agreeable location to work or visit. In any good workplace, as in our cells, maintenance is efficient and ongoing.

That’s true in young cells, but what happens in old cells?

Imagine what happens to a building if we cut its maintenance budget by 90%. Carpets begin to show dirt, windows become less clear, walls develop nicks and marks, and floors grow grimy and sticky. This is precisely what happens in old cells: we cut back on the maintenance and the result is that cells becomes less functional, because without continual maintenance, damage gradually accumulates. In the nervous system, beta amyloid, tau proteins, and a host of other things “sit around” without being recycled efficiently and quickly. Maintenance is poor and our cells accumulate damage.

All previous Alzheimer’s research has ignored the cut back in maintenance and focused on only a single facet, such as beta amyloid. You might say that they focused only on the dirty carpet and ignored the walls, the windows, and the floors. Even then, they have focused only on the “dirt”, and ignored the cut back in maintenance. Imagine an organization that has cut its maintenance budget. Realizing that they have a problem, they call in an outside specialist to focus exclusively on the loose dirt in the carpet, while ignoring the carpet stains, ignoring the window, walls, and floors, and then only coming in once. What happens? The carpets look better for a few days, but the office still becomes increasingly grungy and unpleasant. In the same way, if we use monoclonal antibodies (the outside specialist) to focus on beta amyloid plaque, the plaques may improve temporarily, but the Alzheimer’s disease continues and it is definitely unpleasant. Various companies have focused on various parts of the problem – the floors, the walls, the windows, or the carpets – but none of them have fixed the maintenance, so the fundamental problem continues. You can put a lot of effort and money into treating only small parts of Alzheimer’s, or you can understand the complex and dynamic nature of cell maintenance. Ironically, once you understand the complexity, the solution becomes simple.

The best solution is to reset cell maintenance to that of younger cells. Neurons and glial cells can again function normally, maintaining themselves and the cells around them. The outcome should be not another “graveyard for companies”, but life beyond Alzheimer’s.