Alzheimer’s Research Uncovers New Pathways to Early Diagnosis and Treatment

by David Hodes

Internal medicine doctor Brent Beasley was working in a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he got a mild case of Covid in 2022 that triggered something more insidious: Alzheimer’s. It ended his 31-year career.

“It changed my world,” he says. “One of the things we realize now is that a lot of Alzheimer’s might be brought on by viruses.” (Recent research shows that the herpes virus, in particular, may be the cause.)

Beasley forgot passwords. He repeated himself to his patients. He felt like he wasn’t present. Patients complained that he seemed a bit out of it. “I wound up getting fired in August 2022,” he says, not revealing where he used to work because he felt abandoned when he needed their help the most. “I think my boss thought I was doing drugs or that I was an alcoholic. That began my journey of trying to figure out what was wrong with me.”

Beasley checked in with a neurologist friend who told him to go to the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He had a three-hour battery of neuro-psych testing “that was just a slog,” Beasley says. “I had an MRI and a lumbar puncture and spinal tap. It showed I had an elevated tau level, which is one of the biomarkers indicating development of Alzheimer’s.”

In November 2023, the 57-year old began a drug regimen recommended by the center, taking Lecanemab intravenously once every two weeks for 19 months, which is one of two new drugs designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. Research shows that the drug slows the cognitive decline from Alzheimer’s by 30 percent.

“I remember the day when I felt clear-headed again, which was in August 2024,” Beasley says. “I don’t know what the future holds because I’m one of the first guys to be on this medication, literally. But it’s really made a difference in my life.”

Most people believe that Alzheimer’s and dementia are the same thing. Well, yes and no. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, occurring in 60 to 80 percent of cases. Dementia is not a specific disease. It is an overall term that describes a decline in mental ability.

Dr. Jeffrey Burns. Photography provided.

Dr. Jeffrey Burns, a neurologist and co-director of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, one of 33 nationally designated Alzheimer’s centers in the U.S., says that dementia means memory and thinking changes that interfere with daily function. “Then we ask, what causes it? Alzheimer’s is the number one cause of dementia, but there are many other causes for dementia, like stroke and brain tumor and things like that, that can damage the brain, plus other neurodegenerative diseases,” he says.

Alzheimer’s is brought about by microscopic changes of plaques (a buildup of proteins in and around brain cells) and tangles (abnormal structures of protein inside neurons) in the brain that disrupt cell function, kill the cell and create cognitive decline and memory loss. Burns says his group is working on lifestyle concerns in addition to drug development.

“How do things like exercise and diet benefit the brain, and can we use those to slow the disease if somebody already has it?” Burns says. “Can we prevent it? I think someday we will. I don’t know when we’re going to be there—maybe five, ten or 15 years. But we’re working on lots of things on the research side.”

The research center is collaborating with Brigham Young University on developing the blood test for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease by detecting small fragments of DNA released into the bloodstream when brain cells die. The small fragments, known as cell-free DNA, carry layers of important information that regulate gene activity.

“We screen blood plasma looking for any pieces of DNA that’s floating around,” says Tim Jenkins, a cell biology researcher leading the blood testing work at BYU. “If it’s in the blood, it means it came from a dead cell. And when we look at that DNA, if it’s coming from neurons, we expect that that means there’s neurodegeneration occurring. So the thought is we could apply this sort of testing to individuals as a screening tool to look for early signs of neurodegeneration. And if we could define it early, we could identify medicines that could work really early to slow down the process dramatically enough so that the symptoms of Alzheimer’s would never really occur.”

Burns says that there’s a lot more that can be done with the new drugs. “It’s not something where we want to bury our head in the sand anymore. We want to really figure out what’s going on and then go after it in the ways that we can.”

“We’re living in a time when we can treat this disease and treat it successfully,” Beasley says. “I hope people don’t come away with the type of attitude that they are just going to sit in the dark at home and wait for the end to come.” :

Behavioral changes that could indicate Alzheimer’s

•Difficulty remembering recent conversations, names or events

•Apathy

•Depression

•Communication problems

•Confusion with time or place

•Decreased or poor judgment

•Difficulty completing familiar tasks

•Difficulty walking, speaking and swallowing

•Withdrawal from work or social activities

•Spontaneous behaviors such as clapping, dancing and singing along to music

•Changes in sleep patterns