Roberta Diaz Brinton is Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Scientist of the Year
October 19, 2015
Professor Roberta Diaz Brinton, R. Pete Vanderveen Chair in Therapeutic Discovery and Development, has been named Scientist of the Year by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. The distinction honors Brinton’s research focusing on how the brain develops Alzheimer’s and on translating the resulting discoveries into therapeutics to prevent, delay and treat the disease.
Brinton’s work looks at both aging and Alzheimer’s disease which are characterized by declines in the brain and the body’s abilities to self-renew and repair. She has spent decades pursuing answers to this devastating disease with a focus on the female brain and the mechanisms that have resulted in women having a two-fold increased lifetime risk of developing it.
Estrogen Therapy Could Hold Back Alzheimer’s, Shrink the Brain?
Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2015
September 3, 2015
The hormone estrogen has a long and fitful history in Alzheimer’s research, and at the recent Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, scientists grappled anew with its possible impact on amyloid-β deposition, brain structure, and risk. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mixed messages emerged at the meeting, held July 18-23 in Washington, D.C.
The Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) showed that hormone therapy increased the risk of dementia when initiated after age 65, but subsequent studies reported that the hormones seemed harmless or helped prevent dementia when taken during early menopause (see May 2003 news; Shao et al., 2012; Maki et al., 2011; Jun 2013 news). From this, the “critical window" hypothesis was born, which posits that early treatment with the hormone may be beneficial, while later treatment could be harmful. Roberta Diaz-Brinton, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, expanded on that with the “healthy cell bias of estrogen action” hypothesis, which claims that healthy neurons respond positively to estrogen, but that sickly neurons, which are more likely to be present in older age, respond negatively.
An Estrogen Boost Without Traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy?
BY Lauren Silverman August 4th, 2015 | 4:40 pm
KERA News
The Importance Of Estrogen
Roberta Diaz Brinton of the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy says some women have been scared away from hormone therapy. That’s a problem, she says, because starting treatment as soon as estrogen levels drop can help avoid risks of dementia.
“The time to intervene is when the body and the brain are sending out the message that they are undergoing a deficiency in estrogen,” she says. “That can be manifested by hot flashes, or changes in cognitive function, mood, depressive symptoms.”
Diaz Brinton warns against waiting years after menopause because the brain might stop responding to estrogen.
By The Associated Pres
The New York Times
06/29/15
WASHINGTON — Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's disease are women, and now some scientists are questioning the long-held assumption that it's just because they tend to live longer than men.
What else may put woman at extra risk? Could it be genetics? Biological differences in how women age? Maybe even lifestyle factors?
Finding out might affect treatments or preventive care.
One worrisome hint is that research shows a notorious Alzheimer's-related gene has a bigger impact on women than men.
"There are enough biological questions pointing to increased risk in women that we need to delve into that and find out why," said Maria Carrillo, chief science officer for the Alzheimer's Association.
Last month, the association brought 15 leading scientists together to ask what's known about women's risk. Later this summer, Carrillo said it plans to begin funding research to address some of the gaps.
"There is a lot that is not understood and not known. It's time we did something about it," she added.
A recent Alzheimer's Association report estimates that at age 65, women have about a 1 in 6 chance of developing Alzheimer's during the rest of their lives, compared with a 1 in 11 chance for men.
The tricky part is determining how much of the disparity is due to women's longevity or other factors.
"It is true that age is the greatest risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease," said University of Southern California professor Roberta Diaz Brinton, who presented data on gender differences at a meeting of the National Institutes of Health this year.
But, she said, "on average, women live four or five years longer than men, and we know that Alzheimer's is a disease that starts 20 years before the diagnosis." That's how early cellular damage can quietly begin.
Why Do Women Have A Higher Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease Than Men?
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
Posted: 06/29/2015 7:35 am EDT Updated: 06/29/2015 7:59 am EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's disease are women, and now some scientists are questioning the long-held assumption that it's just because they tend to live longer than men.
What else may put woman at extra risk? Could it be genetics? Biological differences in how women age? Maybe even lifestyle factors?