Alzheimer’s vs Cancer

Alzheimer’s is of course not good, and neither is cancer. Don’t worry, you don’t have to choose between them!

However, people don’t usually get both. Now, we could argue that people prone to cancer are more likely to die before getting Alzheimer’s, but there’s more to it than that, to the point that one may provide a therapeutic approach to keep the other at bay.

It’s about the T-cells

People with Alzheimer’s are far less likely to develop cancer.

How much less likely, you wonder? Researchers (Dr. Kalyani Sonawane et al.) found that people aged 60+ with Alzheimer’s are 21x less likely to get cancer than those without, and that’s based on a 5-year risk ratio, looking at people who survived the duration, so it’s not a case of “people died of one before they had a chance to get the other”.

Further, Dr. Sonawane and her team found that although amyloid-β harms neurons by disrupting mitophagy (the removal of damaged mitochondria), it benefits cancer-fighting T-cells by preserving their mitochondria, providing more energy for anti-tumour activity. This cuts both ways with the same blade, so to speak, because amyloid-β depletes fumarate, a molecule that prevents excessive mitophagy; restoring fumarate levels helps maintain healthy mitochondria and boosts T-cell energy.

What does this mean in practical terms? When they tested this by transplanting mitochondria from Alzheimer’s patients’ T-cells into aging T-cells, the older cells regained youthful energy and function.

And that’s why we said “don’t worry, you don’t have to choose between them”, as you don’t need to get Alzheimer’s to get the protective effect that Alzheimer’s gives vs cancer; doctors just need to do one or both of:

• transplanting healthy mitochondria from Alzheimer’s patients
• supplementing fumarate (which has the benefit of not relying on mitochondrial donations from Alzheimer’s patients)

You find the paper itself, here: Alzheimer’s Disease–Associated Amyloid-β Precursor Protein Prevents Aging Stress–Induced Mitophagy and Fumarate Depletion to Improve Antitumor Immunity

Want to know more?

You can tackle both problems at once, without conflict:

5 Ways To Beat Cancer (And Other Diseases)

…and further, for women at least, there’s another thing that reduces the risk of both Alzheimer’s and several kinds of cancer:

Alzheimer’s Sex Differences May Not Be What They Appear ← this is about hormones

On which note, lastly, you might want to consider: The Hormone Therapy That Reduces Breast Cancer Risk & More

Take care!