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Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by sillypuddy on Monday December 10, 2018 @10:57AM (#18648760)
Is alzheimers a prion disease, or maybe just Prions are involved?
Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by adamb on Monday December 10, 2018 @02:54PM (#18650690)
My understanding is that there is some evidence that Alzheimer's is transmissible (e.g. higher rate of incidence in caregivers and neurosurgeons), but more study is needed.
Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by rincebrain on Tuesday December 11, 2018 @09:45AM (#18655564)
A study showed that if they wired two mice's circulatory systems together, one with Alzheimer's and one without, the second one would eventually develop everyone's favorite brain plaques.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151909-alzheimers-may-...

So while wiring together two bloodstreams is a bit extreme, and likely to result in most things being transmissible, there's nonzero evidence that you can have a bad day from a blood transfusion.

Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by Fomite on Monday December 10, 2018 @04:18PM (#18651241)
There's also been observations of particularly large amounts of certain human herpes viruses in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by tshannon on Monday December 10, 2018 @11:40AM (#18649094)
I believe Alzheimers is recognized as a metabolic disease now (some have even said Type 3 diabetes). It's in no way related to Prions.
Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by dingby on Monday December 10, 2018 @11:49AM (#18649159)
The diabetes/metabolic theory was one pitched theory, and it isn’t even a terribly mainstream one. There is no consensus that Alzheimer’s is a “metabolic disease”. Even thought ApoE is implicated, that association could be explained by numerous mechanism, even viral.
Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by tshannon on Monday December 10, 2018 @12:16PM (#18649400)
Thanks for clarifying. I'm no expert just passing on things I've read.

Regardless, it's unrelated to prions.

Re:Prions, Nearly Indestructible and Universally Lethal, See... by jelling on Monday December 10, 2018 @12:09PM (#18649334)
No expert, but the latest studies have been about the correlation with the herpes virus and how the plaque build-ups that are part of Alzheimer's may be the immune system's attempt to protect the brain.