[00:00.00]Alzheimer's disease remains among the most devastating diseases that medicine has yet to crack.
[00:06.75]There's no known cure or treatment that has substantially helped curb memory loss and the decline in cognitive skills.
[00:13.88]One in eight Americans over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's now.
[00:18.87]Researchers are hoping they can find a more promising future by intervening well before any symptoms show.
[00:25.97]Jeffrey Brown has the story.
[00:28.71]This photograph is a picture of my father and myself at a father/daughter dance at school.
[00:35.86]At age 48, Jamie Tyrone decided on a whim to sign up for a study that offered genetic testing for 22 diseases.
[00:43.55]This is at my wedding day.
[00:45.34]The results were shocking and life-changing.
[00:48.03]My genetic status is that I have a 91 percent lifetime risk of getting Alzheimer's disease.
[00:55.52]Alzheimer's, a debilitating form of dementia, wasn't even on Tyrone's radar screen. She'd had no symptoms.
[01:03.63]And hearing the news sent her into an emotional tailspin.
[01:06.78]I was very, very lonely and very, very isolated. 
[01:10.43]And at one point, I was told that it's probably best not to talk about it because you might be discriminated against.
[01:17.51]And so I went into a really dark hole.
[01:22.26]All this began five years ago, ironically, just as her father began showing signs of mental confusion.
[01:30.48]Want to look up at me, dad?? I'm taking a picture of you.
[01:32.68]Tyrone watched as his health quickly declined.? He was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
[01:38.93]When my father was still alive, and I looked at him, all I saw was my destiny.
[01:46.21]And I was frightened for me, but I was more afraid for my family, because I didn't want -- 
[01:54.48]I didn't want them to go through what we were going through with my father.
[01:59.90]And her story is now part of a new approach to experimental Alzheimer's research, treating people for the disease before they show a single symptom.
[02:09.01]I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions that just look at various aspects of memory and thinking. 
[02:14.11]And I want you to just take your time and relax.
[02:17.09]Tyrone volunteered for a biomarker study at Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Arizona. 
[02:23.13]Here, she is given cognitive tests, medical screening, and brain imaging.
[02:27.76]I panic every time I go through it, because I'm like, oh, my goodness, if I forget something, do I have Alzheimer's?
[02:35.10]Immediately, you were able to recall that.
[02:37.79]So far, her tests have been encouraging.
[02:40.00]So, you got 27 out of 30, which is considered normal.
[02:44.63]Yay!
[02:45.78]The biomarker study Tyrone entered is part of an ambitious goal set by Banner to prevent and even eradicate the disease.
[02:53.36]It's incurable, it's debilitating, it's relentless, and it's unacceptable.
[02:58.54]Dr. Pierre Tariot is on a team of doctors that launched the Alzheimer's prevention initiative.
[03:04.23]We think the best way to find an end to Alzheimer's disease, without losing another generation, is moving earlier.
[03:12.22]The most important studies to do are in people that don't have any manifest symptoms yet.
[03:16.68]One new study will involve people with no symptoms, but at high risk, because they carry two copies of a gene called APOE-e4.
[03:25.80]There's credible evidence that lifestyle variables matter.
[03:29.64]And while Jamie Tyrone fits that genetic profile, she is too young to participate. The trial will track people 60 to 75 years old.
[03:38.45]If we learn that making this red goes away or preventing it from even occurring...
[03:44.77]Last summer, the study received a big boost, $33.2 million from the National Institutes of Health.
[03:51.64]We and others really think that the way to put this disease behind us is to find therapies that attack the underlying biology, 
[03:58.71]and apply them in the right way at the right time. 
[04:02.49]And if we can do that, we may be able to help preserve identity and preserve autonomy, which are the goals.
[04:09.02]The areas that are blue are essentially little amyloid protein deposits.
[04:15.30]One long-held hypothesis is that a buildup of amyloid protein in the brain is the main culprit in the onset of Alzheimer's. 
[04:22.21]These new trials will test drugs aimed at halting that progression.
[04:26.11]We will be comparing change in people who get active treatment vs. a placebo or sham treatment, 
[04:33.62]and our hypothesis is the active experimental treatment will slow down or possibly even prevent the otherwise almost certain loss of memory and other thinking ability.
[04:45.66]To this point, drug trials to treat people who already have the disease have proven disappointing, thus the change in thinking.
[04:55.48]There has been a significant paradigm shift in just the last couple of years.
[04:59.83]Maybe using these promising experimental agents at a time when the disease has already ravaged the brain is too late, 
[05:09.73]so maybe what we ought to do is intervene at the very beginning, before the damaged has occurred, and before symptoms have emerged.
[05:17.65]And so that's a big change. That's a real pivot in the field.
[05:22.09]It also raises new ethical considerations to administer Alzheimer's treatment to people with no current symptoms.
[05:29.08]In every case, it boils down to the ability for everybody to appreciate the potential risks and the potential benefits, 
[05:36.45]benefits for oneself, benefits for one's family or future generations.
[05:41.57]You're going to draw trees in the background.? Yours is looking great.
[05:46.01]For people who already have Alzheimer's, the institute creates environments, like this art class, where patients can feel productive and successful.
[05:54.34]I think it works for people with Alzheimer's because every day they face failure, because their memory, their brain can't keep pace.
[06:02.22]But as I tell people with this disease, look, not all of your brain is not working.
[06:07.58]There are parts that work beautifully, and I think art is one of those areas that work beautifully
[06:12.41]According to the Alzheimer's Association, 5.2 million Americans are affected by the disease.
[06:23.71]A new diagnosis is made every 68 seconds, and the number of cases is expected to triple by 2050.
[06:31.37]The World Health Organization has labeled Alzheimer's disease as the coming pandemic of Western societies in this century, 
[06:40.64]predicting that as we age successfully, the numbers will become so extraordinary that unless we find a way to put it behind us, it could overwhelm our societies.
[06:50.55]Feeling overwhelmed by her husband's diagnosis is something Judy Starbuck is familiar with.
[06:56.08]I have periods of great grief, great grief, of loss. 
[07:03.54]You know, they say start planning to make a life for yourself. And I don't want to.
[07:10.86]Starbuck volunteered for the prevention trials, but was found to carry no risk and therefore didn't qualify.
[07:18.32]In fact, researchers acknowledge it may be tricky to find volunteers.
[07:24.44]So the Banner Institute has created an online Alzheimer's prevention registry.
[07:28.63]One of the biggest challenges is just finding enough people to participate.
[07:32.62]Typically, research studies often take place in people who already have the disease, and here we're trying to do prevention-focused studies.
[07:40.43]Jamie Tyrone says she can't help being optimistic.
[07:46.80]Oh, my goodness.? What it means is that there's hope, there's actual hope.
[07:52.13]There is a possibility that there may be a prevention in my lifetime, and my family won't have to go through what we have in the past.
[08:01.67]So, that's very, very promising and very, very exciting.
[08:07.64]The prevention trials are expected to begin in 2015.
[08:11.12]You can learn more about Alzheimer's prevention, including how to eat your way to a healthier brain.
[08:16.87]That's on our Health page.