Health issues

New research reveals herpes and Alzheimer’s are linked

Jun 25, 2018

Research has indicated a link between those with Alzheimers and the herpes virus. Source: Getty

The fear of losing your memory and forgetting your loved ones is all too real for millions of people across the world battling with Alzheimers, but new research has revealed a link with the herpes virus that could help to better understand the debilitating disease.

In Australia alone there are more than 300,000 people suffering with the brain degeneration that can cause memory loss, behavioural changes and depression.

It is the most common form of dementia and sadly there is no known cure or prevention with only some medications helping to relieve symptoms.

However, while studying the brain and potential drugs to help patients, scientists found the brains of those with Alzheimer’s contained much higher levels of the herpes virus than that of a healthy brain.

In a report published to Neuron, evidence found the two strains of the herpes virus most strongly linked to Alzheimer’s were those common in children.

Surprised by what he and other researchers had uncovered, co-senior author and geneticist Joel Dudley said it was not what they expected.

“The title of the talk that I usually give is, ‘I went looking for Drug Targets and All I found Were Those Lousy Viruses’. We didn’t set out to find what we found. Not even close,” he explained.

“We were trying to find drugs that could be repurposed to treat Alzheimer’s patients, but the patterns from our data-driven analysis all pointed towards these viral biology themes.”

The amazing discovery showed the deceased brains with high levels of the herpes virus were those who also suffered with Alzheimer’s while alive.

In fact, the viral genes were even regulating and being regulated by the human genes.

These new findings are believed to tie in with other research around the beta-amyloid protein that causes inflammation in the brain, leading to Alzheimers, with the herpes virus said to be involved in the regulation of the protein.

However, although a great piece of evidence, Dudley admitted they don’t know for sure whether herpes can actually lead to Alzheimers, especially since in North America almost 90 per cent of children have one of the two herpes viruses in their system from a very young age.

“I don’t think we can answer whether herpes viruses are a primary cause of Alzheimers disease. But what’s clear is that they’re perturbing networks and participating in networks that directly accelerate the brain towards the Alzheimers topology,” Dudley said.

“Even if the questions remain, this research offers strong support for a long-controversial hypothesis that viruses might be involved in the development of Alzheimers disease. We didn’t have a horse in this virus race whatsoever. It’s the data that took us there.

“And now, not only is the viral hypothesis resurrected: it has specific testable pathways and networks and interactions that can be explored and reconciled with the rest of the work emerging in Alzheimers.”