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

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Klavdija Černilogar Dwyer

In the year 1901,

Leta 1901

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

so žensko po imenu Auguste odpeljali v v bolnišnico v Frankfurtu.

Auguste was delusional

Auguste je imela blodnje

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

in se ni spominjala osnovnih podrobnosti o svojem življenju.

Her doctor was called Alois.

Njen zdravnik se je imenoval Alois.

Alois didn't know how to help Auguste,

Alois ni vedel, kako naj pomaga Auguste,

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

a jo je opazoval, dokler ni leta 1906 na žalost preminila.

After she died, Alois performed an autopsy

Po njeni smrti je Alois opravil obdukcijo

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

in našel čudne plake in vozle v njenih možganih -

the likes of which he'd never seen before.

takih ni še nikoli videl.

Now here's the even more striking thing.

Še bolj neverjetno pa je to:

If Auguste had instead been alive today,

če bi bila Auguste živa danes,

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

ji ne bi mogli pomagati nič bolj, kot ji je Alois pred 114 leti.

Alois was Dr. Alois Alzheimer.

Alois je bil dr. Alois Alzheimer.

And Auguste Deter

In Auguste Deter

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

je bila prva bolnica z diagnozo, ki ji danes pravimo Alzheimerjeva bolezen.

Since 1901, medicine has advanced greatly.

Od leta 1901 je medicina ogromno napredovala.

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

Odkrili smo antibiotike in cepiva, ki nas ščitijo pred infekcijami,

many treatments for cancer, antiretrovirals for HIV,

mnogo zdravil za raka, antiretrovirusna zdravila za HIV,

statins for heart disease and much more.

statine za bolezni srca in veliko več.

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

A nismo dosegli skoraj nobenega napredka pri zdravljenju Alzheimerjeve bolezni.

I'm part of a team of scientists

Sem del skupine znanstvenikov,

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

ki že več kot desetletje išče zdravilo za Alzheimerjevo bolezen.

So I think about this all the time.

Zato o tem razmišljam ves čas.

Alzheimer's now affects 40 million people worldwide.

Alzheimerjevo bolezen ima 40 milijonov ljudi po svetu.

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

Leta 2050 bo takih 150 milijonov ljudi -

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

kar bo, mimogrede, vključevalo mnoge izmed vas.

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

Če upate, da boste živeli do 85. leta ali dlje,

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

je vaša možnost za Alzheimerjevo bolezen 50-odstotna.

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

Ali drugače rečeno, možno je, da boste v jeseni življenja

either suffering from Alzheimer's

trpeli za Alzheimerjem

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

ali pa skrbeli za bližnjega z Alzheimerjem.

Already in the United States alone,

Samo v Združenih državah

Alzheimer's care costs 200 billion dollars every year.

stane oskrba za bolnike z Alzheimerjem 200 milijard dolarjev letno.

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

Vsak peti dolar iz programa Medicare gre za Alzheimerjevo bolezen.

It is today the most expensive disease,

Je najdražja bolezen našega časa

and costs are projected to increase fivefold by 2050,

in stroški naj bi se do leta 2050 povečali za petkrat,

as the baby boomer generation ages.

saj se generacija "baby boom" stara.

It may surprise you that, put simply,

Morda vas bo presenetilo, a preprosto rečeno

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

je Alzheimer eden največjih medicinskih in družbenih izzivov naše generacije.

But we've done relatively little to address it.

A glede tega smo naredili zelo malo.

Today, of the top 10 causes of death worldwide,

Med prvimi desetimi vzroki smrti po svetu

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

je Alzheimer edina bolezen, ki se je ne da preprečiti, pozdraviti, niti upočasniti.

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

Manj razumemo o mehanizmih Alzheimerjeve bolezni kot o drugih boleznih,

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

ker smo v raziskovanje vložili manj časa in denarja.

The US government spends 10 times more every year

Vlada ZDA vsako leto nameni desetkrat več

on cancer research than on Alzheimer's

za raziskave raka kot za Alzheimerja,

despite the fact that Alzheimer's costs us more

kljub temu da nas Alzheimer stane več

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

in vsako leto povzroči podobno število smrti kot rak.

The lack of resources stems from a more fundamental cause:

Pomanjkanje virov izvira iz bolj temeljnega vzroka:

a lack of awareness.

pomanjkanje ozaveščenosti.

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

Ker malo ljudi to ve, a bi morali vsi:

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

Alzheimer je bolezen in lahko jo pozdravimo.

For most of the past 114 years,

Zadnjih 114 let

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

so vsi, vključno z znanstveniki, napačno zamenjali Alzheimerja za staranje.

We thought that becoming senile

Mislili smo, da je senilnost

was a normal and inevitable part of getting old.

običajen in neizogiben del staranja.

But we only have to look at a picture

A samo pogledati moramo sliko

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

zdravih možganov v primerjavi z možgani bolnika z Alzheimerjem,

to see the real physical damage caused by this disease.

da bi videli dejansko fizično škodo, ki jo povzroči.

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

Ta bolezen povzroča hudo izgubo spomina in mentalnih sposobnosti,

the damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer's

hkrati pa poškodba možganov, ki jo povzroča,

significantly reduces life expectancy and is always fatal.

zmanjša pričakovano življenjsko dobo in je vedno smrtna.

Remember Dr. Alzheimer found strange plaques and tangles

Spomnite se, da je Dr. Alzheimer našel plake in vozliče

in Auguste's brain a century ago.

v možganih Auguste pred več kot stoletjem.

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

Skoraj stoletje nismo o njih vedeli skoraj nič.

Today we know they're made from protein molecules.

Danes vemo, da so sestavljene iz molekul beljakovin.

You can imagine a protein molecule

Zamislite si molekulo beljakovine

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

kot kos papirja, ki se ponavadi zloži v zapleten origami.

There are spots on the paper that are sticky.

Na papirju so lepljive točke.

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

In ko se pravilno zloži, te lepljive točke pristanejo v notranjosti.

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

A včasih gre nekaj narobe in te lepljive točke pristanejo zunaj.

This causes the protein molecules to stick to each other,

To povzroči, da se molekule beljakovin zlepijo skupaj

forming clumps that eventually become large plaques and tangles.

in oblikujejo skupke, ki sčasoma postanejo veliki plaki in vozliči.

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

To vidimo v možganih bolnikov z Alzheimerjem.

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

Zadnjih deset let smo na Univerzi v Cambridgeu

trying to understand how this malfunction works.

poskušali razumeti, kako se ta napaka zgodi.

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

Mnogo korakov je in težko je odkriti, kateri korak je treba blokirati -

like defusing a bomb.

kot onesposobljanje bombe.

Cutting one wire might do nothing.

Prerez ene žice morda ne bo naredil nič.

Cutting others might make the bomb explore.

Prerez drugih bo morda povzročil eksplozijo.

We have to find the right step to block,

Najti moramo pravi korak in ga blokirati

and then create a drug that does it.

in nato najti zdravilo, ki to stori.

Until recently, we for the most part

Do pred kratkim smo večinoma

have been cutting wires and hoping for the best.

samo rezali žice in upali na najboljše.

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

A sedaj imamo raznoliko skupino ljudi,

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

zdravnike, biologe, genetike, kemike, fizike, inženirje in matematike.

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

In skupaj nam je uspelo določiti kritičen korak v tem procesu

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

in sedaj testiramo novo vrsto zdravil, ki naj bi blokirala ta korak

and stop the disease.

in ustavila bolezen.

Now let me show you some of our latest results.

Naj vam sedaj pokažem naše najnovejše rezultate.

No one outside of our lab has seen these yet.

Nihče izven našega laboratorija jih še ni videl.

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

Poglejmo videe o tem, kaj se je zgodilo, ko smo preizkusili to zdravilo v črvih.

So these are healthy worms,

To so zdravi črvi

and you can see they're moving around normally.

in lahko vidite, da se normalno premikajo.

These worms, on the other hand,

Ti črvi pa imajo v sebi

have protein molecules sticking together inside them --

molekule beljakovin, ki se lepijo skupaj -

like humans with Alzheimer's.

kot ljudje z Alzheimerjem.

And you can see they're clearly sick.

In lahko vidite, da so bolni.

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

A če damo nova zdravila tem črvom v zgodnjem stadiju,

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

lahko vidimo, da so zdravi in živijo normalno dolgo.

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

To je samo prvi pozitiven rezultat, a take raziskave

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

nam pokažejo, da je Alzheimer bolezen, ki jo lahko razumemo in zdravimo.

After 114 years of waiting,

Po 114 letih čakanja

there's finally real hope for what can be achieved

je tu končno upanje, da lahko kaj dosežemo

in the next 10 or 20 years.

v naslednjih 10 ali 20 letih.

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

Da bo to upanje raslo, da bi končno premagali Alzheimerja, potrebujemo pomoč.

This isn't about scientists like me --

Tu ne gre za znanstvenike, kot sem jaz -

it's about you.

gre za vas.

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

morate ozaveščati druge, da je Alzheimer bolezen

and that if we try, we can beat it.

in da jo lahko premagamo, če se potrudimo.

In the case of other diseases,

V primerih drugih bolezni

patients and their families have led the charge for more research

so bolniki in njihove družine navijali za več raziskav

and put pressure on governments, the pharmaceutical industry,

in izvajali pritisk na vlade, farmacevtsko industrijo,

scientists and regulators.

znanstvenike in odločevalce.

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

To je bilo ključno pri odkrivanju zdravila za HIV v poznih 80-ih letih.

Today, we see that same drive to beat cancer.

Danes vidimo isti zanos v bitki proti raku.

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

A bolniki z Alzheimerjem pogosto ne morejo govoriti v svojem imenu.

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

In njihove družine, skrite žrtve, zanje skrbijo noč in dan

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

in so pogosto preveč izmučene, da bi se zavzemale za spremembe.

So, it really is down to you.

Torej je odvisno od vas.

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

Alzheimer načeloma ni genetska bolezen.

Everyone with a brain is at risk.

Vsakdo z možgani je ogrožen.

Today, there are 40 million patients like Auguste,

Danes imamo 40 milijonov bolnikov, kot je bila Auguste,

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

ki ne morejo poskrbeti za spremembe, ki jih potrebujejo.

Help speak up for them,

Pomagajte jim spregovoriti

and help demand a cure.

in pomagajte zahtevati zdravilo.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)