A study published Monday detailed how certain hormone therapy patients appeared to develop Alzheimer’s as a result of their treatments.
Researchers found “credible evidence” that suggests Alzheimer’s disease may be transmitted from person to person through certain surgical procedures, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine. The study was based on a small number of patients who received cadaver-derived growth hormones, a practice that ceased in Britain in 1985, an analysis of the study described.
The research team found amyloid-beta deposits (associated with the development of Alzheimer’s) in the brains of four patients during post-mortem examinations. Each of the individuals died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a neurological condition commonly associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease).
Signs of ‘transmissible’ Alzheimer’s seen in people who received growth hormone https://t.co/R9vnwDYcKZ
— Allen Mendenhall (@allenmendenhall) January 30, 2024
The patients died during middle age before the amyloid plaques built up in their brain’s blood vessels to cause physical symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, nor the common precursor condition of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). A similar study was conducted in 2018 and found that mice injected with a hormone preparation containing amyloid beta-proteins developed amyloid plaques and CAA.
In the most recent study, the researchers found five out of eight people who received the specific hormone treatment during their childhood — and did not develop Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — instead developed early-onset dementia between the ages of 38 to 55, and met the diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s. (RELATED: Americans, I’m Begging You — Please Start Eating Normal-Sized Portions Of Food)
Due to the small study size, more research is required to find any further correlation between surgeries, treatments, and other medical interventions that could lead to the development or transmission of neurodegenerative disorders.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is launching an investigation, the Daily Mail reported in a piece published Tuesday.
“Given this new information, the committee will convene to discuss the issue and re-analyze data for any possible associations with Alzheimer’s or dementia-related conditions,” an NIH spokeswoman told the Daily Mail.