Researchers from the Safra Center for Neuroscience and the Institute for Life Sciences at the Hebrew University in Israel have made a breakthrough in understanding the accelerated cognitive deterioration experienced by women who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. It has to do with a molecular mechanism connected to mitochondrial RNA.
Women are more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. Of the more than 6 million people age 65 and older with Alzheimer’s in the United States, nearly 4 million are women.
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A woman’s estimated lifetime risk of developing Alzheimer’s at age 65 is 1 in 5. As real a concern as breast cancer is to women’s health, women in their 60s are about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s during the rest of their lives as they are to develop breast cancer.
But why?
The Association explains there are a number of potential biological and social reasons why more women than men have Alzheimer’s or other dementias. The prevailing view has been that this discrepancy is due to the fact that women live longer than men on average, and older age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Researchers are now questioning whether the risk of Alzheimer’s could actually be higher for women at any given age due to biological or genetic variations or differences in life experiences.
The Hebrew University researches explained Alzheimer’s disease is a severe degenerative condition serving as the leading cause of dementia. The disease disproportionately affects women, characterized by a faster rate of progression and more pronounced cognitive deterioration than men. Current therapeutic protocols only aim to delay symptoms progression but are known to result in more severe side effects in women. Consequently, the decline in cognitive functioning in women with Alzheimer’s continues despite treatment, further exacerbating the challenges they face.
Their study, which was led by brain gene expert Professor Hermona Soreq and Professor Yonatan Loewenstein, discovered a direct link between a family of mitochondrial-originated RNA fragments and the rate of dementia progression in women. The findings indicate that independent of structural brain changes, severe depletion of mitochondrial RNA fragments inherited from the mother, in the affected brain nuclei, correlates with the rapid deterioration of cognitive abilities in women with Alzheimer’s.
Professor Soreq explained, “Our research presents a significant contribution to the existing body of Alzheimer’s research by uncovering new insights into the factors driving accelerated cognitive decline in women, underscoring crucial distinctions not only in disease progression but also in treatment response. Moreover, these findings have implications for treating these symptoms by RNA-based therapies, which emerged in recent years, and now present a viable option.”
This discovery provides the first molecular explanation for the accelerated cognitive damages occurring in the brains of women with Alzheimer’s disease, opening the door for improvement of current treatment protocols,” concludes Professor Soreq. “With this discovery we can take a crucial step forward in developing drugs suitable for women suffering from this devastating condition, and pave the way for optimal care and support for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.”
