Growth Hormone Injections May Have ‘Seeded’ Alzheimer’s in Some People, Study Suggests
Injections of no-longer-used growth hormone derived from cadavers may have “seeded” Alzheimer’s in some people, small study suggests. Researchers say they have uncovered more evidence to support a controversial hypothesis that sticky proteins that are a signature of Alzheimer’s disease can be transmitted from person to person through certain surgical procedures. The authors and other scientists stress that the research is based on a small number of people and is related to medical practices that are no longer used. The study does not suggest that forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease can be contagious. Still, “we’d like to take precautions going forward to reduce even those rare cases occurring”, says neurologist John Collinge at University College London who led the research, which was published in Nature Medicine on 29 January. For the past decade, Collinge and his team have studied people in the United Kingdom who, during childhood, received growth hormone d...