A drug treatment that could slow the onset of certain types of dementia could be ‘within our grasp’, say Australian scientists.
Dr John Kwok and colleagues from Neuroscience Research, Sydney, have identified a gene that causes abnormal protein deposits in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a disease that affects people in their 50s and 60s.
Kwok said there were already several drugs approved for human use that were known to act on this gene.
“Common psychiatric drugs, such as haloperidol, used to treat schizophrenia, are known to act on this gene,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.
Alzheimer's
“Our hope is that these drugs will slow the progression of the disease,” he added.
Preliminary work with haloperidol suggested that a dose 10-100 times less than that used for treating psychosis could be effective.
“The exciting part about our findings is that an effective treatment for this form of dementia might be almost within our grasp,” Knok said.
“Because these drugs are already approved for use in humans, we could be looking at a treatment for frontotemporal dementia becoming available in just a few short years,” he added.
FTD is a type of dementia that affects personality, behaviour and language. Currently, there is no treatment to slow or stop this disease.
Like in Alzheimer’s disease, people with FTD develop unusual deposits of protein in their brains and the discovery of the gene responsible is a significant step.
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One in six deaths is caused by dementia, according to a report which highlights the growing toll of the illness.
Analysis of death certificates between 2001 and 2009 reveals that conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease account for 15 per cent of deaths in England.
Two-thirds of victims died in nursing or residential care homes and a third in hospital.
But campaigners claim the 15 per cent figure underestimates by half the toll, which they put as high as one in three deaths.
The report, published today, also shows that, within the total, the number of cases where dementia is recorded as the leading – rather than just a contributory – cause of death is rising.
The figures were compiled by the NHS body the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network.
The statistics showed 631,078 deaths were due to dementia, Alzheimer’s or senility out of 4,339,000 deaths recorded in England between 2001 and 2009.
The report predicts that growing numbers of people living longer will lead to large increases in those suffering dementia.
It concluded that between 2010 and 2030 the number estimated to have dementia at any one time will increase by 440,960 to 1,054,000.
Ruth Sutherland, interim chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘The research shows that a staggering 15 per cent of deaths are attributable to dementia but this is the tip of the iceberg – we know that one in three people over 65 will die with dementia and we need death certificates to reflect this.
‘Research from the National Audit Office found that the UK is in the bottom third of Europe when it comes to dementia care.
‘This is disgraceful. Dementia training must be provided to all care home and hospital staff to ensure people receive quality care.’
Care Services Minister Paul Burstow, said the Coaltion was ‘committed to improving the care for people with dementia’ and as part of a recently launched strategy was looking at the training NHS and social care staff receive on dementia.