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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/upliftingnews@lemmy.world

"This is the first study to show that [the compound] Cu(ATSM) can increase the abundance of P-gp clearance pumps in an Alzheimer's model, by 24.1 percent, effectively linking the repair of the blood-brain barrier to a reduction in toxic proteins and improved cognitive function," Dr. Pyun said.

"By improving the pumps, the brain can finally clear out the trapped waste. Over 56 days, the treatment reduced toxic amyloid-beta by 42 percent and improved spatial learning by nearly 44 percent."

"Cu(ATSM) is a copper compound with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties that has already progressed to clinical testing for conditions like Parkinson's and ALS," Professor Nicolazzo said.

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[-] qualia@lemmy.world 98 points 2 weeks ago

CNS disease drugs (Alzheimer's, stroke, ALS) translate from mice to humans under 10% of the time. Mouse models like the referenced primary source are poor proxies as they're engineered for single, clean pathologies (e.g. one mutation), while human neurodegeneration is messier, multifactorial, and not fully replicated even when surface features like amyloid plaques appear.

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 35 points 2 weeks ago

Since it's already in clinical trials for ALS and Parkinson's, hopefully testing for Alzheimer's can be done much more quickly than otherwise would be possible.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Clinical trials for als are a crapshoot. They'll approve anything for a trial because what can it hurt

Source: dad was in the radicava trial. Can't prove it, but he went fast. Probably faster than he would have without. They excluded him from the dataset because he was inconvenient.

[-] sudoshakes@reddthat.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

It can pass phase 2 easier but not phase 3 trails.

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[-] bluGill@fedia.io 62 points 2 weeks ago

In mice.. Time will tell, but Alzheimer dugs have a poor history in human trials. Some of even suggested that the model this is working on is wrong and thus it cannot work.

[-] becausechemistry@piefed.social 16 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah. The trouble is that pretty much only humans get Alzheimer’s. In order to make a mouse model, we have to induce a disease state that looks like Alzheimer’s, at least to our best understanding. It’s not unreasonable that our mouse model is just not really representative of the actual disease in humans.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Didn't the amyloid-beta model get disproven? I am not following AD research that closely (I follow DBS research in neuro) but I remember reading a specific model (one that most of the research was tied up in) was disproven and it's why none of the mouse models were working on humans.

edit: what timing. I just popped back on here and saw @ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world posted this article. I can't vouch for its contents as i'm not an AD researcher, but i think it's what i'm remembering

[-] ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks. From the article:

One of its biggest mysteries is also its most distinctive feature: the plaques and other protein deposits that German pathologist Alois Alzheimer linked to the disease in 1906. In 1984, Aβ was identified as the main component of the plaques. And in 1991, researchers traced family-linked Alzheimer’s to mutations in the gene for a precursor protein from which amyloid derives.

I haven’t checked all the sources, but the Aβ model predates the fraudulent papers, which were focused on the Aβ*56 “toxic oligomer” species. However, the model wasn’t looking too hot before hand, and it really resuscitated it. Now yeah, it may have been a zombie

[-] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago

I seem to remeber that the Amyloid plaques are now considered caused by whatever causes Alzheimers, but are not the cause.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

i dunno. it just smells to me like they're waiting for Lesne to die so they can start doing real science again.

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I heard this as well

[-] Lumisal@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

They've tried it with Gold too (Au{TISM}) but it had some interesting side effects, so wonder what side effects Cu(ATSM) will have.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Maybe we’ll finally be able to live out our dreams of acting as captain James T Kirk, wandering the galaxy to have sex with green-skinned women

Maybe we’ll party with that blue skinned guy taking colloidal silver and a bunch of furries, to declare ourselves the Federation

[-] Gonzako@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

Hope theyll be able to make review on wether it's good or bad quality copper

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[-] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Cool, so they'll get bought up by an Alzheimer's medicine company that produces a medicine that doesn't work, and we'll never hear of this breakthrough again.

Capitalism is great at killing off medicines that work, there's less profit in medicines that work.

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago

produces a medicine that doesn't work

There's no reason to be needlessly jaded. Those companies would absolutely produce this if it worked, because you'd have to take it forever.

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago

The Internet is full of Dunning Kruger idiots who don't understand profit maximisation but believe they do.

[-] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago

Given the number of bubbles that collapse the economy, neither does Wallstreet

[-] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Too big to fail. They're still maximising their profits, just not yours.

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[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 weeks ago

Wdym? If a drug like this were successful, everybody with any markers for Alzheimer's would want to be in on it. They'd make bank for several years, until the patent expires, and then they'd have other methods of extending the patent and prolonging market exclusivity.

Sorry but this is a shit talking point. What drug companies fear is the eradication of an ailment, and particularly by non-pharmaceutical means (i.e. gene therapy).

Even something that's 100% effective in preventing Alzheimer's, would still see a hell of a market.

And if such a drug is possible, then there's the game theory question. Any pharma exec knows that if their company can make a breakthrough medicine...so too could another company. Is it worth it for them to sit on it, only for another company to make the same discovery a year or two later and bring it to market?

[-] protist@retrofed.com 8 points 2 weeks ago

This doesn't make sense though, if they have a drug that works, they'll make fucking bank. Pharmaceutical companies would kill for a blockbuster drug like that

[-] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago

Conspiracy theorists alert! Bet you are antivax too.

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[-] Abyssian@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Wait till they find out about the copper magnet bracelets that cure everything.

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[-] hot_mocha_decaf@lemmy.cafe 5 points 2 weeks ago

I have this habit of sucking on pennies, helps clear my head. Maybe there's something to this.

[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Very little copper in modern pennies, you should probably just supplement zinc. Helps with colds as well.

[-] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 11 points 2 weeks ago

Proportionally little copper in modern pennies. But the outside is a thin veneer of copper plating. Unless they are nomming on an individual coin long enough the for their saliva to eat through the copper layer like the chocolate on a peanut m&m, then their exposure is no different than a wholey copper coin.

[-] qualia@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

A 2024 massive Cochrane review didn't find enough evidence to recommend zinc for colds.

[-] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sounds like those hookey copper bands and junk they used to sell weren't hokum after all lol

Edit - /s

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

I wonder how they feel about magnets, lol.

[-] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

You can't explain that

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Put the magnets in the water - no more magnets.

Bigly.

[-] lightsblinken@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago
[-] smeenz@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Oh you sweet summer child. I'm jealous. I wish I didn't know as much about donny's ramblings as I sadly do.

[-] protist@retrofed.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

Well, TMS is a real thing, and increasingly evidence-based

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

The Magnet Syndrome?

[-] Jessicat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

That’s not how drugs work. Even if it worked in humans, they were not treating the mice through skin contact.

[-] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

I think he was making a joke...

[-] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Lol I thought it was pretty obvious that was the case but based on the downvotes I should've clarified

[-] Jessicat@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I was hoping it was a joke. Downvotes were not me.

[-] WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not worried about it. Def a joke. Anyone buying those is the real joke. This drug did sound promising though. I hope it works, that stuff runs in my family and that's scary.

[-] Jessicat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Here’s to hoping for a treatment. Have a good one!

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[-] pound_heap@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

Oh, I bet copper from Flock cameras has this effect too!

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this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
526 points (98.9% liked)

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