HSV1 and alzheimers

September 18, 2009

This study has recently come up again (9/11/2009)

J Pathol. <javascript:AL_get(this, 'jour', 'J Pathol.');>

2009 Jan;217(1):131-8.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA is located within Alzheimer's

disease amyloid plaques.

Wozniak MA

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Mee AP

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Itzhaki RF

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed & Cmd=Search & Term=%22Itzhaki%2\

0RF%22%5BAuthor%5D & itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed\

_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>.

Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.

The brains of Alzheimer's disease sufferers are characterized by

amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, the cause(s)

of these features and those of the disease are unknown, in sporadic

cases. We previously showed that herpes simplex virus type 1 is a

strong risk factor for Alzheimer's disease when in the brains of

possessors of the type 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene

(APOE-epsilon4), and that beta-amyloid, the main component of

plaques, accumulates in herpes simplex virus type 1-infected cell

cultures and mouse brain. The present study aimed to elucidate the

relationship of the virus to plaques by determining their proximity

in human brain sections. We used in situ polymerase chain reaction

to detect herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA, and immunohistochemistry

or thioflavin S staining to detect amyloid plaques. We discovered a

striking localization of herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA within

plaques: in Alzheimer's disease brains, 90% of the plaques contained

the viral DNA and 72% of the DNA was associated with plaques; in

aged normal brains, which contain amyloid plaques at a lower

frequency, 80% of plaques contained herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA

but only 24% of the viral DNA was plaque-associated (p < 0.001). We

suggest that this is because in aged normal individuals, there is a

lesser production and/or greater removal of beta-amyloid (Abeta), so

that less of the viral DNA is seen to be associated with Abeta in

the brain. Our present data, together with our finding of Abeta

accumulation in herpes simplex virus type 1-infected cells and mouse

brain, suggest that this virus is a major cause of amyloid plaques

and hence probably a significant aetiological factor in Alzheimer's

disease. They point to the usage of antiviral agents to treat the

disease and possibly of vaccination to prevent it.

September 18, 2009

My grandmother died from Alzheimer's. I have persistent Lyme disease, had it

while I was pregnant. My son was born with chronic health problems, and is ADHD.

All of these topics are of interest to me. I believe that there is some kind of

connection between all these illnesses in my family.

It appears we are getting very close to the answer of what " ails " us. If you go

on PubMed and type this Lyme researcher's name and Alzheimer's you can read some

more about his work. What prompted him was a study in Sweden or Denmark of 24

nuns. One half died of natural causes, and the other half died of Alzheimer's.

The brains of the nun's who died of Alzheimer's were full of Lyme spirochetes,

and they were culture proven.

Thought this would be of interest to read:

Plaques of Alzheimer's disease originate from cysts of Borrelia burgdorferi, the

Lyme disease spirochete.

Mac

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bmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus>.

St. of Siena Medical Center, Department of Pathology, 50 Rte 25 A,

town, NY 11787, USA. inmacdonald@...

Here is hypothesized a truly revolutionary notion that rounded cystic forms of

Borrelia burgdorferi are the root cause of the rounded structures called plaques

in the Alzheimer brain. Rounded " plaques' in high density in brain tissue are

emblematic of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Plaques may be conceptualized as rounded

" pock mark-like " areas of brain tissue injury. In this century, in brain tissue

of AD, plaques are Amyloid Plaques according to the most up to date textbooks.

In the last century, however, Dr. Alois Alzheimer did not require amyloid as the

pathogenesis for either the disease or for the origin of its plaques. Surely,

amyloid is an event in AD, but it may not be the primal cause of AD. Indeed in

plaques, amyloid is regularly represented by the " congophilic core " structure

which is so named because the waxy amyloid material binds the congo red stain

and is congophilic. However an accepted subset of plaques in AD is devoid of a

congophilic amyloid core region (these plaques " cotton wool " type plaques, lack

a central congophilic core structure). Furthermore, there is " plaque diversity "

in Alzheimer's; small, medium and large plaques parallel variable cystic

diameters for Borrelia burgdorferi. Perturbations of AD plaque structure (i.e.

young plaques devoid of a central core and older plaques with or without a

central core structure) offer room for an alternate pathway for explanation of

ontogeny of the plaque structures. If amyloid is not required to initiate all of

the possible plaques in Alzheimer's, is it possible that amyloid just a by

product of a more fundamental primal path to dementia? If a byproduct status is

assigned to amyloid in the realm of plaque formation, then is amyloid also an

epiphenomenon rather than a primary pathogenesis for Alzheimer's disease. In the

" anatomy is destiny " model, cysts of borrelia are always round. Why then not

accept roundness as a fundamental " structure determines function " argument for

the answer to the mystery of why Alzheimer plaques are always round? Parataxis

causality, a concept borrowed from philosophy, is the error that comes from

linking two events, which occur contemporaneously or in close proximity to one

another with a cause and effect relationship. Parataxis tells us that what

appears to be cause and effect in the couplet " amyloid plaque " merely by a

proximity relationship may be " spurious causality " which is a cognitive dead

end.

PMID: 16675154 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

September 18, 2009

So, since I don't really understand this article because it's very scientific,

is it saying that there is a definite correlation between HSV1 and Alzheimer's?

And is HSV1 the virus that causes shingles?

My Mom had both....

Thanks

sjsmith@...

From: sjsmith@...

Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:04:28 -0400

Subject: HSV1 and alzheimers