Alzheimer’s Is Not Normal Aging — And We Can Cure It | Samuel Cohen | TED Talks

Translator: Alex Pérez Reviewer: Maider Uranga

In the year 1901,

1901.urtean,

a woman called Auguste was taken to a medical asylum in Frankfurt.

Auguste deituriko emakume bat, babes-etxe batera eraman zen Frankfurt-en.

Auguste was delusional

Auguste burutik jota zegoen

and couldn't remember even the most basic details of her life.

eta ezin zen bere bizitzako xehetasun oinarrikoenetaz gogoratu.

Her doctor was called Alois.

Bere sendagileak Alois zuen izena.

Alois didn't know how to help Auguste,

Aloisek ez zekien nola lagundu Auguste,

but he watched over her until, sadly, she passed away in 1906.

baina zaindu egin zuen zoritxarrez, 1906ean hil zen arte.

After she died, Alois performed an autopsy

Hil ondoren, Aloisek autopsia egin zion

and found strange plaques and tangles in Auguste's brain --

eta plaka eta korapilo arraroak topatu zituen Augusteren burmuinean

the likes of which he'd never seen before.

aurretik inoiz ikusi gabe zituenak.

Now here's the even more striking thing.

Orain, hemen dator deigarriena.

If Auguste had instead been alive today,

Auguste egun bizirik egongo balitz,

we could offer her no more help than Alois was able to 114 years ago.

ezingo genioke Aloisek duela 114 urte eskainitako laguntza baina gehiago eman.

Alois was Dr. Alois Alzheimer.

Alois, Alois Alzheimer doktorea zen.

And Auguste Deter

Eta Auguste Deter

was the first patient to be diagnosed with what we now call Alzheimer's disease.

egun Alzheimer deritzogun gaixotasunarekin diagnostikatu zen lehen gaixoa.

Since 1901, medicine has advanced greatly.

1901etik, medikuntzak asko egin du aurrera.

We've discovered antibiotics and vaccines to protect us from infections,

Antibiotiko eta txerto asko aurkitu ditugu infekzioetatik babesteko,

many treatments for cancer, antiretrovirals for HIV,

hainbat tratamentu minbiziarentzat, antiretrobiralak GIBarentzat,

statins for heart disease and much more.

estatinak bihotzeko gaixotasunentzat eta askoz gehiago.

But we've made essentially no progress at all in treating Alzheimer's disease.

Baina funtsean ez dugu ezer aurreratu Alzheimer gaixotasuna tratatzerako orduan.

I'm part of a team of scientists

Zientzialari talde batekoa naiz

who has been working to find a cure for Alzheimer's for over a decade.

hamarkada batean zehar Alzheimerraren sendagaiaren bila ibili gara.

So I think about this all the time.

Hortaz, denbora guztian honetan pentsatzen nago.

Alzheimer's now affects 40 million people worldwide.

Egun Alzheimerrak 40 milioi pertsona erasotzen ditu mundu mailan.

But by 2050, it will affect 150 million people --

Baina 2050. urterako, 150 milioi pertsona erasoko ditu --

which, by the way, will include many of you.

bide batez, zuetako asko hor izango zarete.

If you're hoping to live to be 85 or older,

85 urtez edo gehiago bizitzeko itxaropena baduzue,

your chance of getting Alzheimer's will be almost one in two.

Alzheimerra izateko duzuen aukera, bitik bateakoa izango da.

In other words, odds are you'll spend your golden years

Hau da, aukera izugarria izango duzu zure urrezko urteetan

either suffering from Alzheimer's

Alzheimerra izateko edo

or helping to look after a friend or loved one with Alzheimer's.

Alzheimerra duen lagun edo maite bat zaintzeko.

Already in the United States alone,

Dagoeneko, Estatu Batuetan soilik,

Alzheimer's care costs 200 billion dollars every year.

Alzheimerra dutenen zaintzek 200 bilioi dolar kostatzen dute urtero.

One out of every five Medicare dollars get spent on Alzheimer's.

Medikuntza zaintzan gastatzen den bostena, Alzheimerrean gastatzen da.

It is today the most expensive disease,

Egungo gaixotasun garestiena da,

and costs are projected to increase fivefold by 2050,

eta espero da 2050erako gastuak bostkoiztuko direla,

as the baby boomer generation ages.

Baby boomer-ak zahartzen doazen heinean.

It may surprise you that, put simply,

Harrigarria dirudi, baina sinpleki,

Alzheimer's is one of the biggest medical and social challenges of our generation.

Alzheimerra gure belaunaldiko erronka mediku eta sozial handienetarikoa da.

But we've done relatively little to address it.

Baina nahiko gutxi egin dugu konpontzeko.

Today, of the top 10 causes of death worldwide,

Egun, mundu mailako lehen 10 heriotz arrazoien artean,

Alzheimer's is the only one we cannot prevent, cure or even slow down.

Alzheimerra da saihestu, sendatu, eta gutxiagotu ezin den bakarra.

We understand less about the science of Alzheimer's than other diseases

Alzheimerraren zientziaz beste gaixotasunez baino guxiago dakigu

because we've invested less time and money into researching it.

denbora eta diru gutxiago inbertitu delako ikerketan.

The US government spends 10 times more every year

Estatu Batuetako gobernuak 10 aldiz gehiago gastazen du urtero

on cancer research than on Alzheimer's

minbiziaren aurkako ikerketan, Alzheimerrarenean baino

despite the fact that Alzheimer's costs us more

Alzheimerrak gastu handiagoa sortzen badu ere

and causes a similar number of deaths each year as cancer.

eta urteroko heriotza kopurua minbiziaren antzekoa bada ere.

The lack of resources stems from a more fundamental cause:

Baliabide eskasia oinarrizko zergaiti batetik dator:

a lack of awareness.

kontzientzia falta.

Because here's what few people know but everyone should:

Hau baita, gutxi batzuk dakiteena eta denok jakin beharko genukeena:

Alzheimer's is a disease, and we can cure it.

Alzheimerra gaixotasun bat da eta sendatu dezakegu.

For most of the past 114 years,

Igaro diren 114 urteetako gehienetan,

everyone, including scientists, mistakenly confused Alzheimer's with aging.

guztiok, zientzialariak barne, Alzheimerra zahartzearekin nahastu zuten.

We thought that becoming senile

Petsatzen genuen senil bihurtzea

was a normal and inevitable part of getting old.

zahartzearen parte ohiko eta saihestezina zela.

But we only have to look at a picture

Baina osasuntsu dagoen eta

of a healthy aged brain compared to the brain of an Alzheimer's patient

Alzheimerra duen burmuinei begiratzea aski da

to see the real physical damage caused by this disease.

gaixotasunak sorturiko kalte fisikoak ikusteko.

As well as triggering severe loss of memory and mental abilities,

Oroimen eta abilezia mentalak galtzearekin batera,

the damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer's

Alzheimerrak burmuinean sorturiko kalteek

significantly reduces life expectancy and is always fatal.

nabarmen murrizten dute bizi itxaropena eta beti hilgarriak dira.

Remember Dr. Alzheimer found strange plaques and tangles

Gogoratu Alzheimer doktoreak plaka eta korapilo arraroak

in Auguste's brain a century ago.

aurkitu zituela Augusten burmuinean duela ehun urte.

For almost a century, we didn't know much about these.

Ia mende batean zehar, ez genuen ideia askorik honi buruz.

Today we know they're made from protein molecules.

Egun badakigu proteina molekulaz eginda daudela.

You can imagine a protein molecule

Imaginatu proteina molekula bat

as a piece of paper that normally folds into an elaborate piece of origami.

Origami pieza konplexu batean tolesten den paper zati bat bezala.

There are spots on the paper that are sticky.

Zenbait lekuetan, papera itsakorra dago.

And when it folds correctly, these sticky bits end up on the inside.

Eta zuzen tolestuta dagoenean, puntu itsakor hauek barruan bukatzen dute.

But sometimes things go wrong, and some sticky bits are on the outside.

Baina batzuetan gauzak gaizki doaz, eta zenbait puntu itsaskor kanpoan daude.

This causes the protein molecules to stick to each other,

Honek proteina molekulak elkarren artean itsastea eragiten du,

forming clumps that eventually become large plaques and tangles.

mordoak sortuz eta azkenean, plakak eta korapiloak.

That's what we see in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

Hau da ikusten duguna Alzheimerra dutenen burmuinetan.

We've spent the past 10 years at the University of Cambridge

Azken 10 urteak eman ditugu Cambridgeko Unibertsitatean

trying to understand how this malfunction works.

funtzionamendu oker honen zergaitia ulertu nahian.

There are many steps, and identifying which step to try to block is complex --

Pausu asko daude, eta zein pausu blokeatu nahi den identifikatzea zaila da --

like defusing a bomb.

bonba bat indargabetzea bezala.

Cutting one wire might do nothing.

Kable bat mozteak agian ez du ezer eragiten.

Cutting others might make the bomb explore.

Baina beste batzuk mozteak, agian bonba aztetzea dakar.

We have to find the right step to block,

Blokeatzeko pausu zuzena aurkitu behar dugu,

and then create a drug that does it.

ondoren, hori egiten duen sendagaia sortu.

Until recently, we for the most part

Duela gutxi arte, ia beti,

have been cutting wires and hoping for the best.

kableak mozten egon gara, hoberena itxaroten.

But now we've got together a diverse group of people --

Baina orain, pertsona ezberdinen talde bat egin dugu --

medics, biologists, geneticists, chemists, physicists, engineers and mathematicians.

mediku, biologo, genetista, kimikari, fisikari, ingeri eta matematikariak.

And together, we've managed to identify a critical step in the process

Eta guztiok batera, pauso kritikoa identifikatzea lortu dugu

and are now testing a new class of drugs which would specifically block this step

eta orain pauso hori espezifikoki blokeatzen duten sendagai berri batzuekin lanean gaude

and stop the disease.

gaixotasuna gelditzeko.

Now let me show you some of our latest results.

Orain, azken emaitzak erakutsiko dizkizuet.

No one outside of our lab has seen these yet.

Gure laborategitik kanpo inork ez du hau ikusi oraindik.

Let's look at some videos of what happened when we tested these new drugs in worms.

Ikus dezagun bideoan zer gertatzen den sendagai berriak zizareetan frogatzean.

So these are healthy worms,

Hauek zizare osasuntsuak dira,

and you can see they're moving around normally.

ikus dezakezuenez ohiko moduan mugitzen dira.

These worms, on the other hand,

Zizare hauei berriz,

have protein molecules sticking together inside them --

beraien barnean proteina molekulak itsasten ari zaizkie --

like humans with Alzheimer's.

Alzheimerdun gizakietan bezala.

And you can see they're clearly sick.

Eta argi ikusi dezakezue gaixo daudela.

But if we give our new drugs to these worms at an early stage,

Baina sedagai berri hau gaixotasunaren fase goizitarretan emanez,

then we see that they're healthy, and they live a normal lifespan.

osasuntsu daudela ikus dezakegu, eta ohiko moduan bizi direla.

This is just an initial positive result, but research like this

Hau hasierako emaitza positibo bat besterik ez da, baina horrlelako ikerketek

shows us that Alzheimer's is a disease that we can understand and we can cure.

Alzheimerra ulertu eta sendatu dezakegula azaltzen dute.

After 114 years of waiting,

114 urte zain egon ondoren,

there's finally real hope for what can be achieved

itxaropen erreal eta behin betiko bat dago

in the next 10 or 20 years.

hurrengo 10 edo 20 urteetan lortuko duguna.

But to grow that hope, to finally beat Alzheimer's, we need help.

Baina azken itxaropen hau handitzeko, Alzheimerra garaitzeko, laguntza behar dugu.

This isn't about scientists like me --

Hau ez da ni bezalako zientzialarien gauza,

it's about you.

zuen gauza da.

We need you to raise awareness that Alzheimer's is a disease

Alzheimerrari buruzko kontzientzia handiagotu behar dugu

and that if we try, we can beat it.

eta saiatzen bagara, garaitu dezakegu.

In the case of other diseases,

Beste gaixotasun batzuen kasuan,

patients and their families have led the charge for more research

gaixoek eta euren familiek indarra egin dute ikerketa handiagotzeko

and put pressure on governments, the pharmaceutical industry,

eta presioa ezarri gobernu eta industria farmazeutikoan,

scientists and regulators.

zientzialarieta eta arau-egileetan.

That was essential for advancing treatment for HIV in the late 1980s.

Hau ezinbestekoa izan zen GIBaren aurkako tratamentuan aurrera egiteko 1980an.

Today, we see that same drive to beat cancer.

Egun, berdina ikusten dugu minbiziaren kasuan.

But Alzheimer's patients are often unable to speak up for themselves.

Baina askotan Alzheimerra duten gaixoak ez dira eurengatik hitz egiteko gai.

And their families, the hidden victims, caring for their loved ones night and day,

Eta beraien familiak, ezkutuko bitimak, bere maiteak gau eta egun zaintzen,

are often too worn out to go out and advocate for change.

askotan nekatuegi daude kanpora joan eta aldaketak eskatzeko.

So, it really is down to you.

Hortaz, benetan zuen esku dago.

Alzheimer's isn't, for the most part, a genetic disease.

Alzheimerra gehien bat ez da gaixotasun genetikoa.

Everyone with a brain is at risk.

Burmuina duen edonork du arriskua.

Today, there are 40 million patients like Auguste,

Egun, Auguste bezalako 40 milioi gaixo daude,

who can't create the change they need for themselves.

beraiek behar duten aldaketa sortu ezin dezaketenak.

Help speak up for them,

Lagundu beraiengatik hitz egiten

and help demand a cure.

eta lagundu tratamentua eskatzen.

Thank you.

Eskerrik asko.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)