A new study has revealed a possible explanation for the link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that people with type 2 diabetes have more difficulty getting rid of a protein that may cause the disease.
Results from the study, led by Umeå University, Sweden, indicate that the body in people with type 2 diabetes does not have the same ability as in healthy people to take care of beta-amyloid. This could increase the risk that it is then stored in the brain and cause cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Olov Rolandsson, senior professor at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, research leader and first author of the study, commented: “The results may be important for further research into possible treatments to counteract the risk of people with type 2 diabetes being affected by Alzheimer’s.”
The study
For the study, the substances that the researchers investigated are two beta-amyloids, which are among the most important components of the plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers measured the concentrations of the beta-amyloids Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42 in the blood as well as of an enzyme that breaks them down in a test group with type 2 diabetes and in a healthy control group.
The two groups were given infusion of glucose for four hours, which induced acute hyperglycaemia, i.e. high blood sugar levels, after which repeated samples were taken from the subjects.
Immediately after the infusion of the sugar solution, the groups had similar values. Soon, the values of beta-amyloids fell sharply in the control group, while the values of the amyloid-degrading enzyme rose. Among the group with type 2 diabetes, there were no changes.
This indicates that people with type 2 diabetes does not have the same ability as in healthy people to take care of beta-amyloids.
“More research is needed to confirm the results of this limited study. Hopefully, in the long term, it can also lead to new treatments. But the findings underline the importance of preventing type 2 diabetes as far as possible and that people who do have it should avoid having episodes of high blood sugar,” says Olov Rolandsson.
