Since I am new to the discussion, I am not allowed to post links. You can contact me for the URLs/links **


In mid December 2010, I posted a file to the Internet detailing studies and articles by scientists who believe Alzheimer's is a misfolding prion/protein disease: On pages 33 and 34, I cited the Parkinson's/prion disease work by Dr. Olanow and Dr. Prusiner.

I have noticed an interesting commonality of prion/protein misfolding diseases: the neuropathology finds that most all of them have neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.

Explanation of neurofibrillary tangles:


Alzheimer’s destroys the nerve cells that process, store and retrieve information in the brain. This nerve cell destruction is thought to be the result of accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid is a general term for protein fragments that the body produces normally. In a healthy brain, these protein fragments would be broken down and eliminated. In AD patients, the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques. Neurofibrillary tangles are insoluble twisted strands of a protein called tau protein that form inside brain cells. Scientists do not yet know whether the plaques or tangles cause AD or are a byproduct of some other process. "

To confirm, Google "neurofibrillary tangles" and the neurodegenerative disease of choice: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Creutzfeldt Jakob, DLB Dementia with Lewy bodies, FTLB (frontotemporal lobar degeneration), ALS - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, GSS - Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome, and now, very disturbing - autism.

If the scientists are correct, and Alzheimer's IS a misfolding prion/protein disease, then it is not confined to the elderly. Victims of early onset Alzheimer's (ages 50 to 64) are soaring.

And now the scientists suspect children and young adults with autism may also be prion disease victims . . .


A study released in December 2009 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that autism prevalencehas increased from the 1994 rate of one in 150 to one in 110 for children born in 1998. This is a staggering 57 percent increase in just four years. More children are diagnosed with autism than cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.





Funding: $698,400
Research Lead: Dr. David Westaway, University of Alberta
Project: "Extending the spectrum of Prionopathies to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Autism"
This project proposes to link the chemistry of the prion protein to the new territory of other nervous system diseases, such as ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and the socialization disorder autism-diseases which are at least one thousand times more common than prion diseases. It is believed that a different type or prion protein may operate in other types of brain diseases, which could lead to new ways of thinking about incurable disorders. The project will create changes in the amounts of the various forms of the new membrane protein, and then perform an array of analyses on the behavior and nervous system transmission of laboratory mice. Nervous transmission by electrical impulse can be measured in isolated brain cells, a system that is also convenient to study the effect of stress by adding small amounts of toxins to the fluids bathing the cultures. By these means, the project aims to extend the boundaries of what is considered "prion disease."

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By separate message, I will post a theory of what is causing all these prion diseases. Helane Shields, Alton, NH