Human growth hormone shots from cadavers linked to Alzheimer's, study finds
Human growth hormone derived from cadavers was linked to Alzheimer's disease in five patients who received injections decades ago, a study in Nature Medicine finds.
Five patients in the United Kingdom have developed Alzheimer’s disease that appears to be the result of contaminated injections they received as children decades ago, according to a new study that could change the way scientists think about the causes of dementia — and cause anxiety in patients who underwent the same therapy.
All five patients received injections of human growth hormone from cadavers for several years as a treatment for very short stature, according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. Scientists extracted the hormone from the cadavers’ pituitary glands, located at the base of the brain.
What the scientists didn’t realize at the time, however, was that in some cases, another substance was extracted as well, contaminating the batches: amyloid-beta protein. This protein is involved in the formation of the hallmark brain plaques seen in Alzheimer’s. Researchers said they can’t fully explain how being exposed to these proteins could trigger the creation of plaques and tangles in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease.
Human growth hormone produced by grinding up a human pituitary gland in a blender in 1965.Jon Brenneis / Getty Images fileAlzheimer’s cases are generally divided into two main groups: cases caused by genetic mutations and those that develop sporadically in the population in people over 65 due to a number of risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and high blood pressure.
The patients in the new study didn’t fit into those two groups. They developed dementia symptoms between ages 38 and 55. None had genetic mutations linked to early-onset dementia, the study found.
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