Neural Exosomes: Diagnosing Alzheimer's Early
May 14, 2018Neural Exosomes
References: Alzheimer's Dement, Science Direct,
Neural Exosomes? Sound like Greek to you? Ever heard of them? You should have. Here's the scoop. First, they aren't rare. You have about some 1.2 billion of them per ml of blood. They are tiny little spheres of membrane that have budded off of neural cells. Much like the tiny vesicles that bud off a nerve cell to transmit nerve impulses between cells, exosomes are 2-3 times the size of those packages, and designed to travel further to other cells. Instead of neurotransmitters, they carry RNA instructions. Many come from the brain, but many come from other organs. What makes them unique is the surface markers on them and the RNA in them, including messenger RNA, mircoRNAs, DNA and signaling proteins.
They are not fully functional cells, they are tiny little spheres of membrane, lined/filled with all these unique markers. The range of function that is being proposed for them is that of signaling between cells, moving cellular components, like amyloid precursor protein or messenger RNA. What is known is that you can measure them in quantity and specificity way before you come down with disease. In particular, they show up as much as 10 years before your develop Alzheimer's. Did you get that? They give you the markers of advance warning.
Now, it's not just that advance warning they give you. Each exosome has within it a unique pattern of micro RNA and messenger RNA. What are those doing? Did you know that your own chromosomes are actually only 2% coded for your unique genes? That's it. But did you know that the other 98% isn't junk? It's your instruction manual. Messenger RNA is how you send out genetic code about what to do when. This is how your body responds to development as you move from a single egg into a fantastically complicated human. Some of that code is good for you and builds you up. Some of it is like napalm, and attacks the enemy, tearing you down.
And,.....here is the critical point. The messenger RNA is also how you send out instructions on how to respond to disease/threat/illness. All disease. Each condition merits different sets of instructions. That means Alzheimer's will have different proteins in its exosomes than Lyme disease, or pancreatitis, or rheumatoid arthritis, or pneumonia. Another example function, we believe that exosomes are how we clear Amyloid Precursor Protein, APP. Lousy clearance results in accumulation of amyloid in your brain. We call that Alzheimer's.
If we can learn how to interpret our Alzheimer's exosome and how they are different, we can learn how to anticipate and react proactively. Learning how to read exosomes gives us the code to our "instruction manual". Now, what is coming is the next miracle. There are companies developing the software to interpret these tests who are just months away from commercial release. With that, we will be able to tell you just what you need to do next. Remember Star Trek' Dr McCoy and the Magic Wand that would diagnose everything? Yup. That's it. We are almost there. Maybe not a wand, but an exosome reader. It's complicated. It is the epitome of "Big Data".
A point of trivia: do you know how much DNA is in you? Here goes. One cell's human DNA would stretch out about 2 meters. And considering that we have some 20 trillion cells, one human's DNA would stretch from the sun, way beyond Jupiter. That's a lot of DNA. Now, consider that over 99% of the DNA we carry around is actually in our gut in the bacteria of our colonic biome, now we are talking a lot of code that could be in exosomes.
WWW.What will work for me. I've finished Bredesen's Certification Course this week and am just blown away by the possibilities of what we can do to reverse this wicked evil disease. It's thrilling. And its sad. My 92 year mother with Alzheimer's is too late to be helped. It makes this Mother's Day bittersweet. I hope you are able to celebrate with your Mother. In a few months, we will be able to keep her safe from Alzheimer's. In the meantime, I'm focusing on getting a good night's sleep. You clear Amyloid much more effectively with good sleep. Maybe that's why you feel so refreshed when you wake up.
Pop Quiz
- What is an neural exosome? It's a little bud off a nerve cell, a bit bigger than the bud that sends neurotransmitters between nerve cells, that travels further between cells, sending messages.
- How many neural exosomes do you have? Answer: LOTS. 1.2 billion per milliliter of blood.
- What do they carry inside them? Answer: Signaling instructions in the form of RNA, microRNA, proteins.
- Is there a different set of exosomes for Parkinson's versus Alzheimer's? Answer: YES! A different set for every disease
- How much sooner a warning will I get if my exosomes say "Alzheimer's Condition: Red Alert"? Answer: About 10 years, as best we know now. Much more to come, of course.