Ethnic Differences in Amyloid Levels

Lane Simonian

It turns out that not only are fewer African Americans and Hispanics being recruited into Alzheimer's disease clinical trials, they are being excluded more often because they generally have lower levels of amyloid than Caucasians.

And herein lies the whole problem in Alzheimer's research for decades. If amyloid is the cause of Alzheimer's disease, then people with low levels of amyloid cannot have Alzheimer's disease, but they often do.

The real problem in Alzheimer's disease is levels of peroxynitrite and not levels of amyloid, and well the two often overlap, they sometimes do not. African Americans, for example, often have higher levels of peroxynitrite and lower levels of amyloid than their counterparts.

"Compared with whites, HUVECs [Human Umbelical Vein Endothelial Cells] from blacks elicited reduced release of bioactive NO [Nitric Oxide] with an accompanying increase in the release of both O2- [oxygen radical] and ONOO- [peroxynitirte].

The key then is not to remove amyloid although this may slightly slow down the disease in those with high levels of amyloid, but to remove peroxynitrite (with antioxidants such as panax ginseng and aromatherpy).

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-links-lack-diversity-alzheimer-disease.html

Iris L.

Thanks for posting, Lane.

Iris