Interview with Dr. Burns about Alzheimers

1) Why did you choose to do work with Alzheimers?

I ended up studying AD largely for academic reasons and out of interest more than any personal story. I was originally drawn into neurology out of an interest in the brain: all the mysteries of the brain and the fact that it is what makes us human. As a neurologist, you quickly learn that everything the brain can do, it can also do wrong and so many of the things that we take for granted about ourselves such as our personality, ability to talk, use tools, etc are affected by various brain disease. Within neurology, these types of problems fall into the realm of behavioral neurology and within behavioral neurology falls AD, the most common cause of behavioral neurology problems. The huge problem of AD and the fact that we are only on the verge of developing effective treatment options was appealing to me as well.

2) Do you have any accounts of patients with Alzheimers? If so, can you share a story?

Too numerous to give just one. I see patients with AD on a nearly daily basis.

3) Why should a doctor/researcher treating/studying Alzheimers know about evolution?

I’m not sure evolution plays a direct role in treating or studying Alzheimer’s but it is one of the foundations of biology and certainly plays an indirect role in the foundation for anyone studying biological sciences and medicine.

4) Why would it help for these people to know about protein folding?

One of the leading hypotheses about the cause of AD is that it is a problem with protein folding. The amyloid protein is normally found in everyone but it may be that a problem with the processing of this protein leads to protein folding abnormalities that result in a toxic form. The accumulation of the toxic form of amyloid may lead to the death of neurons and result ultimately in the disorder. We are not yet certain that the amyloid accumulations, however, are the cause of the disease as opposed to the byproduct of the disease process.

5) How important is it to find a cure for Alzheimers?

AD affects 5 million Americans and accounts for an estimated 100 billion dollars annually in costs. It is age-related and is a common as 40 – 50% in individuals over the age of 85. Combine that fact with the fact that the fastest growing segment of the population is over age 85 and you can see we have a serious problem from societal, economic, and personal (we’re all at high risk) levels. A cure would have enormous implications. Short of that, delaying the onset of the disease across the population by 5 years would also have an enormous effect by cutting the prevalence by 50%.

6) How important of a role do you think grid computing plays in the search for a cure?

It’s likely to have an impact though I don’t think the impact it will have is yet clear. As an example of how more powerful computing can have an impact on AD research, we use parallel computing on a supercomputer at UCLA to examine our brain images and the power and efficiency of this type of computing has a big impact on what we can do.

7) What misconceptions exist about Alzheimers?

One big one is that it is untreatable. There are treatments that are effective and AD should be considered a treatable disorder. The effects of treatment are not good enough. They stabilize people for about a year but people continue to progress and eventually will die of the disease so we need better treatments. Nevertheless, proven therapies exist.

8) Would having a better understanding of protein folding and how it causes Alzheimers help in finding a cure?

If protein folding is at the root of the disease, understanding the hows and whys of the protein folding abnormalities would give us therapeutic targets. For instance, if we knew where the key folding problem occurred and what was driving the change, we could develop drugs that block that abnormal process and potentially stop the disease process.

9) What is some of the latest research on Alzheimers if you know of any?

There is a lot of ongoing research in AD. We are doing a lot at KU (some of it outlined at KUAlzheiemer.org. You could also try clinicaltrials.gov