October 2012 The article I read was titled Enzyme Found That
Destroys Alzheimer’s Plague. The Mayo Clinic was the clinic that ultimately
found this enzyme. BACE2 is the enzyme that was tested that lowers beta-amyloid
more effectively than any other enzyme before.
Beta-amyloid is harmful, because accumulation of this plague acts as a
toxic protein in one’s brain. BACE2 attacks the beta-amyloid in two different
ways not only does it reduce the size and cutting the beta-amyloid pieces into
subsequent smaller pieces causing it to disintegrate. The BACE2 is believed to
be an attractive choice of treatment in Alzheimer’s treatment. I personally believe this is a groundbreaking
moment in the science world, because Alzheimer’s affects more than 5 million
Americans in the US, making it the most common memory related defect. So the
fact that they have found an enzyme that directly attacks the plague that makes
Alzheimer’s is huge. From a personal stand point it was hard to watch my grand
mother visit her mother in the hospital and get treated as though she were a
stranger. This was emotionally taxing for my grand mother to go through, and
even when her mother was on her last leg she still did not whom my grandmother
was. So that’s tough. So to be informed about a possible cure causes instant
elation. As it relates more so to science, Mayo clinic also believes that an
harmful side affect of the BACE2 is that it may cause Alzheimer’s. The process
that is now in progress is to see whether BACE2 can be used while not putting
the test specimen at higher risk for Alzheimer’s. I believe the article is
credible as it relates to our field of study, because we directly discussed the
effects enzymes have on chemical processes.
-Trevor Ogundepo
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