Thursday, November 24, 2016

Group with Alzheimer's gene mutation exciting disease's researchers: VIDEO

60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl with members of the Colombian family CBS NEWS

Extended family in Colombia with a genetic mutation causing Alzheimer's may help scientists prevent the disease someday

Scientists are hoping volunteers from the world’s largest concentration of people with a rare genetic mutation causing  Alzheimer’s may help prevent the disease in others someday. Lesley Stahl goes to Medellin, Colombia,  to meet with members of a large extended family, many of whom carry the gene mutation that amounts to an early death sentence, for a 60 Minutes report to be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT. 

Stahl’s report tells the story of how a young doctor and nurse in Colombia unraveled the mystery of a rash of patients who were coming down with Alzheimer’s disease in their mid-40s -- figuring out that they were part of one large, extended family, connected generations back.  All of them lived in Antioquia, a Colombian region whose capital is Medellin.  The doctor reached out to Dr. Ken Kosik, then a Harvard professor lecturing in Bogota, who realized the significance of the discovery. “When we looked at the family trees, about 50 percent of the offspring were getting the disease. That’s a clear signature of a gene,” says Kosik.

A simple genetic test could reveal which members of the family had the gene mutation that would guarantee they would get early-onset Alzheimer’s.  This gave researchers a unique opportunity to test therapies on persons who were certain to develop the disease, years before they showed any symptoms -- a rare window to see whether a treatment might be able to prevent Alzheimer’s. The nonprofit Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix teamed up with the National Institutes of Health, philanthropists, and the drug company Genentech to start a multimillion dollar clinical trial to test an immunotherapy drug to remove amyloid plaque, a substance that builds up in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients years before they start getting sick.

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