• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

Diabetes treatment may keep dementia, Alzheimer’s at bay

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 25, 2019
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Study finds progression of dementia and Alzheimer’s signature tangles are much faster in people with untreated diabetes

Patients on medication for type 2 diabetes may be keeping Alzheimer’s disease away.

USC Dornsife psychologists have found that those patients with untreated diabetes developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease 1.6 times faster than people who did not have diabetes.

The study was published March 4 in the journal Diabetes Care.

“Our findings emphasize the importance of catching diabetes or other metabolic diseases in adults as early as you can,” says Daniel A. Nation, a psychologist at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “Among people with diabetes, the difference in their rate of developing the signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s is clearly tied somehow to whether or not they are on medication for it.”

Nation says that this study may be the first to compare the rate of developing the pathology for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia among people with normal glucose levels, with pre-diabetes, or people with type 2 diabetes — both treated and untreated.

For the study, the scientists were comparing the “tau pathology” — the progression of the brain tangles that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. When the tangles combine with sticky beta-amyloid plaques — a toxic protein — they disrupt signals between brain cells, impairing memory and other functions.

Nation and Elissa McIntosh, a USC Dornsife Ph.D. doctoral candidate in psychology, analyzed data collected by the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative on 1,289 people age 55 and older. Data included biomarkers for diabetes and vascular disease, brain scans and a range of health indicators, including performance on memory tests.

For some participants, Nation and McIntosh were able to analyze 10 years’ worth of data, while for others, they had one or four years.

Among 900 of those patients, 54 had type 2 diabetes but were not being treated, while 67 were receiving treatment.

Most people in the study — 530 — had normal blood sugar levels while 250 had prediabetes (hyperglycemia).

The researchers compared, among the different diabetic patient categories, the brain and spinal fluid test results that can indicate signs of amyloid plaques and the brain tangles.

“It is possible that the medicines for treating diabetes might make a difference in the progression of brain degeneration,” Nation says. “But it’s unclear how exactly those medications might slow or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, so that is something we need to investigate.”

Increasingly, scientists regard Alzheimer’s disease as the result of a cascade of multiple problems, instead of triggered by one or two. The compounding factors range from pollution exposure and genetics (the ApoE4 gene, for instance) to heart disease and metabolic disease.

###

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R21-AG-055034, P01-AG-052350 and P50-AG-005142 and Alzheimer’s Association grant AA-008369.

The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative is supported by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, as well as other public and private partners.

Media Contact
Emily F Gersema
[email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dc18-1399

Tags: AgingAlzheimerDiabetesGerontologyMedicine/HealthMetabolism/Metabolic Diseasesneurobiology
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Defective Neutrophil Exosomes Trigger Macrophage Activation

September 2, 2025

Proven Techniques for Isolating Mesenchymal Stem Cells

September 2, 2025

Novo Nordisk Foundation Introduces Innovative Funding Model

September 2, 2025

Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel vs. Real-World Therapy in Myeloma

September 2, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    154 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    143 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    117 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 29
  • Do people and monkeys see colors the same way?

    112 shares
    Share 45 Tweet 28

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

How CAX1’s N-Terminus Controls Its Activity

Tumor Depth Predicts Cervical Cancer Risk

Defective Neutrophil Exosomes Trigger Macrophage Activation

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.