WEBVTT - The Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:09.560
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. You're listening to Bloomberg

0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:14.200
<v Speaker 1>Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.400
<v Speaker 2>Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported out on how researchers have

0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.200
<v Speaker 2>uncovered how the body's own immune system may be driving

0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.560
<v Speaker 2>the progression of ALS, a breakthrough that could reshape treatment

0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.560
<v Speaker 2>of the fatal disease. But what's key in a big

0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.320
<v Speaker 2>broader way, the findings could lead to therapies that target

0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.240
<v Speaker 2>the immune system and may have implications for the treatment

0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.280
<v Speaker 2>of other neurodegenerative diseases, and that includes things like Alzheimer's

0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.240
<v Speaker 2>and Parkinson's. So let's get to our weekly BusinessWeek Women's

0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.720
<v Speaker 2>Health segment. We focus on key issues and developing technologies

0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.280
<v Speaker 2>impacting the present and future of women's health around the world.

0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.280
<v Speaker 2>Our focus today is on Alzheimer's, which affects over seven

0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:54.000
<v Speaker 2>million Americans today. By twenty fifty, that number is projected

0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.280
<v Speaker 2>to rise to nearly thirteen million, according to the Alzheimer's

0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:01.720
<v Speaker 2>Association with US is doctor Fanny Allah. She's Associate Professor

0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.800
<v Speaker 2>of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Icon School of Medicine

0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.120
<v Speaker 2>at Mount Sinai, and she joins us right here in

0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.520
<v Speaker 2>New York City. Doctor Lahie, thank you so much for

0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.600
<v Speaker 2>being with us. I am curious when it comes to

0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.479
<v Speaker 2>neurological problems, what are the difference in what affects women

0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:17.280
<v Speaker 2>versus men.

0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.640
<v Speaker 3>It's a pleasure to join you. The short answer to

0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.959
<v Speaker 3>that is that we know the statistics of what are

0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:32.520
<v Speaker 3>the diseases that afflict women at a higher prevalence than men,

0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:36.160
<v Speaker 3>and one of them is Alzheimer's disease. But to say

0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.800
<v Speaker 3>that we would not be correct to say that we

0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.360
<v Speaker 3>understand the why. And I think this is exactly why

0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:47.360
<v Speaker 3>we need to be doing research, because getting the answer

0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.800
<v Speaker 3>to why are women's brains more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease

0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.440
<v Speaker 3>and other kinds of neurodegenerative disorders may hold the key

0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.520
<v Speaker 3>to understanding how these diseases strike the vulnerable brain, and

0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.240
<v Speaker 3>so that knowledge will definitely help women. But I think

0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:07.000
<v Speaker 3>beyond that would help us understand what are the key

0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:11.480
<v Speaker 3>factors that make the aging brains vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.

0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.919
<v Speaker 1>At this point, do we know what? Do we know?

0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.800
<v Speaker 1>What are the clues or what are the hypotheses that

0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.720
<v Speaker 1>medical professionals have established.

0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:28.120
<v Speaker 3>A central hypothesis that we and others are following is

0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:33.959
<v Speaker 3>that in women's lives there is a huge physiological transition

0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:42.000
<v Speaker 3>in midlife due to menopause. That shift in hormones that

0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.760
<v Speaker 3>the brain and other organs see is unique to women.

0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.799
<v Speaker 3>It happens in men, but at a much later stage

0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.040
<v Speaker 3>in their life. And so what we are doing at

0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:58.920
<v Speaker 3>Mount Sinai is to specifically query the impact that lower

0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.960
<v Speaker 3>levels of sugen may have on the cells that form

0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.800
<v Speaker 3>the vasculature of the brain, the protective barriers of the brain,

0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.160
<v Speaker 3>and other cells within the brain.

0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.840
<v Speaker 2>So is a fix and easy fix just keeping the

0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.480
<v Speaker 2>hormone levels higher, and I know that there are consequences

0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:17.960
<v Speaker 2>to doing that potentially, how do we think about it?

0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:19.600
<v Speaker 2>How do you guys think about R and D and

0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.400
<v Speaker 2>what can be done to help women since they are

0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.240
<v Speaker 2>certainly it sounds like more vulnerable as a result when

0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:27.280
<v Speaker 2>it comes to Alzheimer's.

0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:34.000
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, we certainly hope that for those who can get

0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.680
<v Speaker 3>hormone replacement therapy that may diminish their risk to a

0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.040
<v Speaker 3>certain extent. But the question is when do those hormones

0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.520
<v Speaker 3>need to be started? And we think it needs to

0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.600
<v Speaker 3>be perimenopause, you cannot wait too long before starting them.

0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:54.600
<v Speaker 3>The second question is how long do you keep those

0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:58.600
<v Speaker 3>hormones as you may As you alluded to it, those

0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.240
<v Speaker 3>hormones also increase the risk of other things such as cancers,

0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:07.720
<v Speaker 3>and those risks increase as women age. So how long

0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.480
<v Speaker 3>do you keep someone on hormones in order to decrease

0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.880
<v Speaker 3>their risk for Alzheimer's disease, which is a late life phenomenon.

0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.920
<v Speaker 3>And then the third question is for the many women

0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.120
<v Speaker 3>who actually cannot be on those hormones, what can we

0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.760
<v Speaker 3>discover about what those hormones do and just go ahead

0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:29.680
<v Speaker 3>and develop drugs and interventions that activate or deactivate those pathways.

0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.200
<v Speaker 1>What about genetic components if somebody else in the family

0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.200
<v Speaker 1>has had Alzheimer's, that trade being passed down, does that happen?

0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.320
<v Speaker 3>That's an excellent question, and in fact, one of the

0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:46.760
<v Speaker 3>most prevalent genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, the APO

0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:53.240
<v Speaker 3>E four illele, we think interacts with hormones in exerting

0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:58.240
<v Speaker 3>its effect on Alzheimer's disease. Now, the question of heritability

0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.479
<v Speaker 3>of Alzheimer's goes beyond just a point four and that

0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.719
<v Speaker 3>in of itself is a really big area of research.

0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:11.320
<v Speaker 3>There are other components of the disease, such as metabolism

0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:17.360
<v Speaker 3>and mitochondria that we inherit from the maternal side, for instance,

0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:22.120
<v Speaker 3>that could be contributing to this heritability. But even beyond that,

0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:27.159
<v Speaker 3>there are aspects of our ancestry that continue within us

0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:33.880
<v Speaker 3>informs that we currently don't fully grasp and I hope

0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.839
<v Speaker 3>we will understand in the future to again contribute to

0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:38.520
<v Speaker 3>better therapeutic developments.

0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.600
<v Speaker 2>So talk to us little bit about You've done a

0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.320
<v Speaker 2>lot of work when it comes to blood biomarkers. Why

0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.320
<v Speaker 2>might this be important here?

0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:53.200
<v Speaker 3>Blood biomarkers are very exciting because, similar to other disorders

0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:59.760
<v Speaker 3>such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney liver disease, you really

0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:05.559
<v Speaker 3>to detect disease before individuals have prominent symptoms that bring

0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.960
<v Speaker 3>them to the medical attention. And in the case of

0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.400
<v Speaker 3>Alzheimer's and other kinds of neurodegenative disorders, those are cognitive

0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.840
<v Speaker 3>impairment and ultimately dementia. At the point that someone has

0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.960
<v Speaker 3>very significant cognitive changes, we think we could potentially slow

0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.600
<v Speaker 3>down disease progression. But to say that we can stall

0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:28.240
<v Speaker 3>it or have game changing treatments completely change someone's brain

0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:34.960
<v Speaker 3>trajectory would be not realistic. So these blood biomarkers can

0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:44.280
<v Speaker 3>detect risk of future symptoms with increasingly better predictive ability.

0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.119
<v Speaker 3>One thing that I should mention is that we don't

0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.599
<v Speaker 3>think that the pathologies that eventually lead to dementia start

0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.120
<v Speaker 3>at the time that symptoms present. They really start decades before.

0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.880
<v Speaker 3>And these blood BUYO markers for Alzheimer's disease are detecting that.

0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.679
<v Speaker 3>My lab works on expanding that panel because right now

0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.719
<v Speaker 3>we are detecting only a few aspects of the disease.

0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.080
<v Speaker 3>We think a key component of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative

0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.400
<v Speaker 3>diseases are the changes that happen to the blood vessels

0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.080
<v Speaker 3>of the brain, and at the moment, we have no

0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:25.560
<v Speaker 3>biomarkers that detect vascular pathologies with great precision.

0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.960
<v Speaker 1>Doctor Lolly, we just have about thirty seconds left. Are

0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.640
<v Speaker 1>you optimistic that during your career we will see a

0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.840
<v Speaker 1>major breakthrough and either treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's.

0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.720
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely, I'm going to go further and seeing that, I

0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.240
<v Speaker 3>hope that it's not at the end of my career.

0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.120
<v Speaker 3>I have great hope for the decade that is to come.

0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:48.240
<v Speaker 3>We already have two FD approved treatments that slow down

0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.240
<v Speaker 3>disease progression, and many other game changing treatments are in

0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:53.320
<v Speaker 3>the pipeline.

0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.000
<v Speaker 2>Well, we so appreciate getting a chance to talk to you,

0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:59.520
<v Speaker 2>and you really like laying it out so clearly and specifically,

0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.760
<v Speaker 2>Doctor Fannie Alaki. She's Associate Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience

0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:09.080
<v Speaker 2>at the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.