I caught a snipet of news this AM that talked about research pointing to a connection between the virus that causes cold sores and Alzheimer's. My DW has had cold sores her entire adult life. Anyone have more detail on this subject and does your LO have cold sores? DickS
Only that in recent days I also caught a snippet (passing thru the room) just as something was mentioned on TV news about the herpes virus and a possible connection to AD.
My has lots of cold sores, usually we thought it was due to being run down and lack of vitamins. interesting to see how many have them. plus my DH has been having styes on the eye lately, more than usual maybe like the cold sore. divvi
I think AD is a constellation of syndromes. There are so many indications that disrupting any one of many different biological pathways can end up producing the "hallmark" plaques and tangles; and that many different gene mutations can make us just a little more susceptible to one or another of the many factors that appear to be associated with "AD".
For example, several bacterial and viral infections appear to have a strong correlation with AD (sometimes). One of those viruses is the virus that causes cold sores. People with the APOE4 gene are more susceptible to these bacterial and viral infections, and the susceptibility of the APOE4 carriers can sometimes be tied in with high cholesterol levels, which may be related to the ability of the pathogen to attach and gain entry to neurons. A broad picture appears to be building of a basic mechanism that may be involved, but the trigger(s) involved in AD developing in any given individual may be quite different from those triggering onset in another patient.
I brought a thread on this subject to the top for you:
"Has anyone read anything on virus causing AD"
If you want any more detail after reading that, let me know what you need.
Then there's the recent study which indicates that epigenetic factors may play a much bigger role in the development of AD than our genes. Epigenetic factors are those that cause chemical modifications to DNA (or the higher order structure of DNA) during one's lifetime. I.e., not only is it important which genes you have when you're born, but also what happens to that DNA as we grow. This explains why so many studies have identified apparent correlations between "environmental" factors and AD, yet these "environmental" factors -- what we eat, what medicines we take, whether we smoke or exercise, what environmental pollutants we're exposed to -- may or may not trigger AD in any given individual.