News
Follow us: @csjmagazine
Research finds Alzheimer’s disease can be transmissable from medical treatments
Five cases of Alzheimer’s disease are believed to have arisen as a result of medical treatments decades earlier, a team of researchers from UCL and UCLH have reported. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the amyloid-
beta protein, and is usually a sporadic condition of late adult life, or more rarely an inherited condition that occurs due to a faulty gene. The new Nature Medicine paper provides the first evidence of Alzheimer’s disease in living people that appears to have been medically acquired and due to transmission of the amyloid-beta protein. The people described in the paper had all been
treated as children with a type of human growth hormone extracted from pituitary glands from deceased individuals (cadaver-derived human growth hormone or c-hGH). This was used to treat at least 1,848 people in the UK between 1959 and 1985, and used for various causes of short stature. It was withdrawn in 1985 after it was recognised that some c-hGH batches were contaminated with prions (infectious proteins) which had caused Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease (CJD) in some people. c-hGH was then replaced with synthetic growth hormone that did not carry the risk of transmitting CJD. These researchers previously reported that some patients with CJD due to c-hGH treatment (called iatrogenic CJD) also had prematurely developed deposits of the amyloid-beta protein in their brains. The scientists went on to show in a 2018 paper that archived samples of c-hGH were contaminated with amyloid-beta protein and, despite having been stored for decades, transmitted amyloid-beta pathology to laboratory mice when it was injected. They suggested that individuals exposed to contaminated c-hGH, who did not succumb to CJD and lived longer, might eventually develop Alzheimer’s disease.
This latest paper reports on eight people
referred to UCLH’s National Prion Clinic at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, who had all been treated with c-hGH in childhood, often over several years. Five of these people had symptoms of dementia, and either had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or would otherwise meet the diagnostic criteria for this condition; another person met criteria for mild cognitive impairment. These people were between 38 and 55 years old when they started having neurological symptoms. Biomarker analyses supported the diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease in two patients with the diagnosis, and was suggestive of Alzheimer’s in one other person; an autopsy analysis showed Alzheimer’s pathology in another patient. The unusually young age at which these patients
developed symptoms suggests they did not have the usual sporadic Alzheimer’s which is associated with old age. In the five patients in whom samples were available for genetic testing, the team ruled
out inherited Alzheimer’s disease. As c-hGH treatment is no longer used, there is no risk of any new transmission via this route. There have been no reported cases of Alzheimer’s acquired from any other medical or surgical procedures. The lead author of the research, Professor John Collinge, Director of the UCL Institute of Prion Diseases, said: “There is no suggestion whatsoever that Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted between individuals during activities of daily life or routine medical care. The patients we have described were given a specific and long- discontinued medical treatment which involved injecting patients with material now known to have been contaminated with disease-related proteins. “However, the recognition of transmission of
amyloid-beta pathology in these rare situations should lead us to review measures to prevent accidental transmission via other medical or surgical procedures, in order to prevent such cases occurring in future.”
Getinge opens new Global Centre of Excellence
With the opening of new facilities in St. Modwen Park Derby, Getinge is bringing together its chemistry and instrument decontamination business, as well as its UK sales offices, service functions and logistics operations. Getinge is the first MedTech company to move into the growing St. Modwen Park Derby, where a showroom and training area is incorporated in the new facility. “With the growth of our chemistry production volumes and the density of our innovation roadmap, we took the decision to invest into a larger and more modern facility. It will allow us
54
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I April 2024
to serve more hospitals globally, provide a better work environment for our teams, and improve our innovation capacity and quality control,” said Stéphane Le Roy, President, Surgical Workflows, at Getinge. “For the first time in our UK Getinge history, all
employees can come together under ‘one roof’. It is an incredible feeling. The new experience centre and educational facilities allows us to demonstrate Getinge’s technologies and vast portfolio to existing and future customers, strengthening further our ambitions to be a ‘partner of choice’,” explains Avril
Forde, President, North Europe Region, at Getinge. The inauguration was hosted by Mattias Perjos,
President & CEO, Avril Forde, Stéphane Le Roy, and Bob Newsome, Managing Director at the Centre of Excellence for Chemistry. Bob Newsome commented: “The new facility
provides the very best environment for us to take full advantage of the combined competencies in chemistry and machine technology from within our organisation. We are confident this will drive innovation, resulting in new products and improved solutions.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
