Pitt researchers add to the fight against Alzheimer’s

Diane Balcom is not just an advocate for research on Alzheimer’s disease, she has also… Diane Balcom is not just an advocate for research on Alzheimer’s disease, she has also dealt with the disease in her personal life.

As the regional director for the Alzheimer’s Association, she works with the disease and its effects on families every day.

For 12 years, from 1982 until 1994, her family coped with the debilitating disease as it ravaged her mother’s mind.

“The worst thing about the early stages was that you don’t know what it is, but the person knows,” Balcom said.

Balcom watched her mother withdraw from social situations, dropping out of the choir and her card club, because of the anxiety and fear she felt as she came to terms with the disease. At first, her mother’s actions left the family confused, Balcom said, explaining that they wanted to believe the change was a result of old age.

But as confusing as the change was for Balcom and her family, she pointed out that it was very frightening for her mother, too.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center researchers Dr. Chester Mathis and Dr. William Klunk may be able to change the uncertainty and fear of Alzheimer’s in the future. In January, Mathis and Klunk went public with their study of a new protein dye, Pittsburgh Compound B, that may forge the way for a new world of Alzheimer’s disease research and imaging.

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 4 million people in the United States, including one of every 10 people over the age of 65, and nearly 50 percent of people over the age of 85. In the next 50 years, it could afflict as many as 14 million more Americans. Alzheimer’s affects memory and cognitive function, primarily in people aged 65 and older, often causing dementia.

The most popular theory concerning Alzheimer’s disease suggests that it is caused by growth in the brain of amyloid plaques, which researchers believe kill brain cells. Amyloid plaques originate as amyloid precursor proteins — proteins that are found in the brain and have no apparent bodily function. When these proteins are processed abnormally, they produce a byproduct called beta-amyloid, which materializes into amyloid plaques. There is currently no way to detect the change in the brain and attempt to preemptively treat Alzheimer’s before it becomes debilitating.

Pittsburgh Compound B sticks to the amyloid plaques in the brain and allows for their detection before death. Previously, the only method of identifying these plaques was in an autopsy.

According to Mathis and Klunk’s study, the new protein dye is only retained in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors inject it into patients’ brains, along with a radionuclide chemical, and they then observe the brain using technology called a Positron Emission Tomography scan.

During this non-invasive procedure, the dye stains the amyloid plaques, and the chemical releases positrons, which give off a signal that the scanning machine is able to pick up.

The project began eight years ago, when Klunk contacted Mathis, wanting to work on a collaborative research project concerning amyloid imaging. He had done various studies on the topic and was unsure where to go next, and he contacted Mathis because he had a background in radiopharmaceuticals.

The project has three goals, Mathis said.

“Someday, we hope to develop a diagnostic agent for physicians and patients,” Mathis said, adding that the UPMC has already licensed the necessary technology from Amersham Health, a British imaging company.

Mathis explained that he hopes the project will also help evaluate drugs aimed at stopping the amyloid plaque, and thus the progression of Alzheimer’s. Through the project, he also hopes to test the hypothesis that plaque build-up causes Alzheimer’s disease.

Balcom, the regional director of the Alzheimer’s Association, said her organization is pleased with the development of Pittsburgh Compound B.

“This is a major step forward in pharmaceuticals,” she said, referring to the opportunities in preventive medicine that the compound may create.