hormone therapy Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Estrogen Replacement May Protect Against Alzheimer’s Disease in Women

AHA Publisher — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 07:00:47 +0000

IOS Press via EurekAlert – Biological sex influences the effect of amyloid beta on alterations to tau protein characteristic to Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting a role for estradiol in preventing the disease in women, report scientists in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Amsterdam, September 1, 2020-Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia. It affects more women than men. A new study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease indicates that factors such as age, reproductive stage, hormone levels, and the interplay with other risk factors should be considered in women and proposes a role for early menopausal estrogen replacement to protect against the development of AD. “The risk of developing AD as well as its progression and severity are known to be very different in men and women,” explained co-lead investigator Elena Tamagno, PhD, Department of Neuroscience and Neuroscience Institute of Cavalieri Ottolenghi Foundation (NICO), University of Torino, Torino, Italy. “Recent epidemiological studies showed that two thirds of AD patients are women, and this fact cannot be attributed only to their higher life expectancy. The loss of estradiol might be one of the factors leading to declining cognitive function in women.” Hallmarks of AD are the accumulation of amyloid beta peptides in amyloid plaques, and the aggregation of modified tau protein to form neurofibrillary tangles. Tau proteins are abundant in nerve cells and perform the function of stabilizing microtubules, and are pathologically altered in AD. To examine the hypothesis that biological sex influences the effect of amyloid beta 42 (AB42) peptides on these changes to tau protein, investigators gave intraventricular injections of nanomolecular concentrations of AB42 to transgenic mice expressing the wild-type human tau (hTau). In a previous study the investigators had noted that female mice did not show the alterations of tau protein characteristic of AD. In the current study they demonstrated that AB42 caused the pathological form of tau in ovariectomized female mice, but not in control females, and that estrogen replacement reversed this effect through an antioxidant activity and a decrease of tau phosphorylation. “Our study indicates that factors such as age, reproductive stage, hormone levels, and the interplay with other risk factors should be considered in women, in order to identify the best appropriate treatment in prevention of cognitive impairment,” commented co-lead investigator Massimo Tabaton, MD, Unit of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (DIMI), University of Genova, Genova, Italy. “Our results suggest that an early postmenopausal estrogen replacement may be protective against AD.” “Linking estrogen deficiency to the tau changes of AD provides the missing mechanistic link to the greater risk of AD in women and significantly suggests therapeutic avenues to reduce AD,” added George Perry, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology at The University of Texas at San Antonio. AD is a major social and health problem. In the United States, approximately 5.5 million people are affected, and the number is growing as a result of the increase in life expectancy. The prevalence of dementia worldwide is estimated at 24 million people, which is expected to double by 2050. AD is characterized by progressive cognitive decline usually beginning with impairment in the ability to form recent memories, but inevitably affecting all intellectual functions and leading to complete dependence for basic functions of daily life and premature death. Women are more likely to develop the disease, independent of their longer life expectancy: one in six women over 65 develops AD, compared with one in 11 men. To read the original article click here.

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Studies Suggest a Fasting Diet Could Boost Breast Cancer Therapy

AHA Publisher — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 07:00:13 +0000

University of Southern California via EurekAlert – A USC-led team of scientists has found that a fasting-mimicking diet combined with hormone therapy has the potential to help treat breast cancer, according to newly published animal studies and small clinical trials in humans. In studies on mice and in two small breast cancer clinical trials, researchers at USC and the IFOM Cancer Institute in Milan — in collaboration with the University of Genova — found that the fasting-mimicking diet reduces blood insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) and leptin. In mice, these effects appear to increase the power of the cancer hormone drugs tamoxifen and fulvestrant and delay any resistance to them. The results from 36 women treated with the hormone therapy and fasting-mimicking diet are promising, but researchers say it is still too early to determine whether the effects will be confirmed in large-scale clinical trials. The research was published in the journal Nature. “Our new study suggests that a fasting-mimicking diet together with endocrine therapy for breast cancer has the potential to not only shrink tumors but also reverse resistant tumors in mice,” said Valter Longo, the study’s co-senior author and the director of the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “We have data that for the first time suggests that a fasting-mimicking diet works by changing at least three different factors: IGF1, leptin and insulin.” The researchers say the two small clinical trials are feasibility studies that showed promising results, but they are in no way conclusive. They believe the results support further clinical studies of a fasting-mimicking diet used in combination with endocrine therapy in hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. The scientists also contributed to a recent clinical study of 129 breast cancer patients conducted with the University of Leiden. The results, published last month in Nature Communications, appeared to show increased efficacy of chemotherapy in patients receiving a combination of chemotherapy and a fasting-mimicking diet. In the two new small clinical trials — one of which was directed by the study co-corresponding author Alessio Nencioni — patients with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer receiving estrogen therapy along with cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet seemed to experience metabolic changes similar to those observed in mice. These changes included a reduction in insulin, leptin and IGF1 levels, with the last two remaining low for extended periods. In mice, these long-lasting effects are associated with long-term anti-cancer activity, so further studies in humans is needed. “Some patients followed monthly cycles of the fasting-mimicking diet for almost two years without any problems, suggesting that it is a well-tolerated intervention,” Nencioni said. “We hope this means that this nutritional program that mimics fasting could one day represent a weapon to better fight cancer in patients receiving hormone therapy without serious side effects.” “The results in mice are very promising. And the early clinical results show potential as well, but now we need to see it work in a 300- to 400-patient trial,” Longo explained. The data also suggest that in mice, the fasting-mimicking diet appears to prevent tamoxifen-induced endometrial hyperplasia, a condition in which the endometrium (or the lining of the uterus) becomes abnormally thick. The study authors believe this potential use of the fasting diet should be explored further, given the prevalence of this side effect of tamoxifen and the limited options for preventing it. Approximately 80% of all breast cancers express estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. The most common forms of hormone therapy for these breast cancers work by blocking hormones from attaching to receptors on cancer cells or by decreasing the body’s hormone production. Endocrine therapy is frequently effective in these hormone-receptor-positive tumors, but the long-term benefits are often hindered by treatment resistance. Several clinical trials, including one at USC on breast cancer and prostate patients, are now investigating the effects of the fasting-mimicking diets in combination with different cancer-fighting drugs. “I like to call it the nontoxic wildcard for cancer treatment,” Longo said. “These clinical studies we have just published — together with the many animal studies published in the past 12 years — suggest that cycles of the fasting-mimicking diet has the potential to make standard therapy more effective against different cancers, each time by changing a different factor or nutrient important for cancer cell survival.” To read the original article click here.

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New Study Finds that Menopause Increases Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

AHA Publisher — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 07:00:18 +0000

The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) via EurekAlert – Researchers suggest that lifestyle interventions can be effective in helping women with metabolic syndrome prevent diabetes and heart disease. Perimenopause is a time when women become more vulnerable to a number of health problems. A new study based on data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging identified menopause as a risk factor for the development of metabolic syndrome or some of its components, including hypertension, central obesity, and high blood sugar. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). The incidence of metabolic syndrome increases with age and, in Canada, is as high as 38% in women aged 60 to 79 years. Understanding what causes metabolic syndrome is important because this condition increases the risk of heart disease and cancer, two of the leading causes of death in women. Some previous studies have suggested an association between the onset of menopause and the development of metabolic syndrome, independent of aging. This study analyzed data from more than 10,000 women aged 45 to 85 years who participated in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, and found a positive association between menopause and an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. The good news, however, is that lifestyle interventions targeted at women with metabolic syndrome have proven effective in preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular risk. Age at menopause and hormone therapy use have also been identified as possible modifiers of this relationship, although additional studies are required to better quantify their effect. Study results appear in the article “The effect of menopause on metabolic syndrome: cross-sectional results from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.” “These results reaffirm the previously identified link between menopause and metabolic syndrome. Given the increased cardiovascular risk associated with metabolic syndrome and that heart disease remains the number one killer of women, this study highlights the importance of cardiovascular risk assessment and risk reduction strategies in midlife women,” says Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director. To read the original article click here.

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