Study finds possible link between circadian clock and Alzheimer’s

People who develop Alzheimer’s disease can suffer from disturbances in sleep for years before the condition takes hold, but whether there was a link has always proved hard for scientists to determine.

Now researchers in the US have made a breakthrough which raises hopes for new therapies, and how tackling the disease and its symptoms could be helped by “good sleep hygiene”.

The findings show that the 24-hour circadian clock controls the brain’s ability to clear wayward proteins linked to the disease.  If the research is correct, the work could partly explain how sleep disturbances and disruption to circadian rhythms might contribute to the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and how preventing the disruption might stave off the condition.

Dr Jennifer Hurley of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and lead researcher, said “Circadian disruption is correlated with Alzheimer’s diagnosis and it has been suggested that sleep disruptions could be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease.”

She went on to say “The disruption of the proper timing of amyloid beta clearance could be one of the reasons we see an increase in plaques that form in the brain during Alzheimer’s disease.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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