A cure for Alzheimer’s disease could be possible – and life-changing treatments may emerge within the next five to ten years, researchers suggest.
Speaking on the Today programme on Friday during Sir James Dyson’s guest editorship, scientists said advances in dementia research mean the disease could ultimately be treated, prevented and potentially cured.
Almost one million people in the UK are living with dementia, the majority with Alzheimer’s disease – and numbers are expected to rise significantly over the next decade. The Daily Mail is running the Defeating Dementia campaign with the Alzheimer’s Society, to raise awareness and support treatment for the disease.
Until recently, treatment options have been limited, focused on easing symptoms.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh told the BBC it should be possible to go further in future – stopping Alzheimer’s from progressing, preventing it from starting, and, over a longer timeframe, curing those who have begun to develop symptoms.
Dr Claire Durrant said there is now genuine optimism in the field. ‘The evidence we have at the moment is that it’s a disease, and that we know from past experiences that disease can be cured,’ she said.
However, experts cautioned that the brain’s complexity means certainty will depend on the results of future clinical trials.
During the show, the BBC were granted access to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where doctors were removing a tumour during brain surgery.
Dr Claire Durrant (left, pictured with the Duchess of Edinburgh) said there is now genuine optimism about finding a cure for Alzheimer’s
Everyone experiences dementia differently. Use this checklist to help you make a note of your symptoms before you talk to your GP.
Small amounts of healthy brain tissue, normally discarded during such procedures, were instead rushed straight from the operating theatre to Dr Durrant’s laboratory.
She described the tissue taken from patients as a ‘precious gift’, donated on what is often the worst day of their lives.
Speed is critical. Once removed, the brain tissue must reach the lab and be placed into incubators within two hours to remain viable.
There, it is sliced into sections around a third of a millimetre thick and kept alive using oxygenated fluid and specialised equipment.
Dr Durrant and her team can then expose the brain tissue to toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s, including amyloid and tau, extracted from the brains of people who died with the condition.
The researchers then observe how synapses are damaged – and crucially, how that damage might be intercepted.
‘I’ve not seen so much hope in Alzheimer’s disease research than I do right now and there’s just so much to look forward to,’ Dr Durrant said. ‘I’m really hopeful that we’ll see meaningful change in my lifetime.’
That optimism is shared by Professor Tara Spires-Jones, director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, who said recent breakthroughs have transformed the outlook for patients.
‘I’m very optimistic that in the short term we will have treatments that can meaningfully slow or stop disease progression,’ she said. ‘In the long term we should be able to prevent dementia entirely and hopefully we’ll get to a cure.’
A cure for Alzheimer’s disease could be possible – and life-changing treatments may emerge within the next five to ten years, researchers suggest (stock image)
She said future treatments are likely to combine multiple strategies rather than rely on a single target. Crucially, the arrival of lecanemab and donanemab, the first disease-modifying drugs – which slow progression rather than simply treating symptoms – has changed the culture of dementia research.
Professor Spires-Jones said: ‘It’s opened the door to more funding, it’s bringing in smart people and it’s bringing in the pharmaceutical colleagues that we need to run these very expensive clinical trials.’
She added: ‘I’m hopeful that within the next five to ten years we should have something that’s much more meaningful.’
Professor Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘Most of us know someone affected by the diseases that cause dementia.
‘It’s often felt like there’s been little hope, but that’s changing as we’re on the cusp of huge breakthroughs in truly life-changing research.
‘We’re building our understanding every day and treatments are being developed to not only treat symptoms but also slow progression.
‘We can finally be confident that research and innovation built over decades is coming to fruition – and we’re going to beat dementia.’
