{"id":41142,"date":"2026-04-04T18:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41142"},"modified":"2026-04-04T18:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T18:10:29","slug":"discontinued-corpse-hormone-treatment-may-cause-alzheimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41142","title":{"rendered":"Discontinued corpse hormone treatment may cause Alzheimer&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>What\u2019s in the past doesn\u2019t always stay buried.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamaneurology\/fullarticle\/2847009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new study<\/a> suggests that a hormone therapy harvested from human corpses may be linked to a rare, controversial form of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>Though the drug was discontinued more than 40 years ago, researchers are urging doctors to watch for signs of cognitive decline in the thousands of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who received it as children.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Some people who got a discontinued hormone treatment as kids are now showing signs of Alzheimer\u2019s <span class=\"credit\">Robert Kneschke \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Known as c-hGH, the treatment was made by extracting human growth hormone from the pituitary glands of deceased donors\u2019 brains.<\/p>\n<p>Around the world, <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC3183530\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">studies show<\/a> that about 27,000 children with severe growth hormone deficiency were treated with it between 1963 and 1985.<\/p>\n<p>Without the hormone, these kids faced stunted growth, delayed puberty and other health problems.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Trouble started brewing in the 1980s, when several US patients who had received c-hGH developed a deadly neurological disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).<\/p>\n<p>The condition is caused by abnormal, misfolded proteins called prions that accumulate in the brain, destroying nerve cells and triggering dementia symptoms such as memory loss and confusion, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20371226\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mayo Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When scientists took a closer look, they discovered that the c-hGH given to those patients had been <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC3647424\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contaminated with infectious prions that cause CJD<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>There\u2019s no evidence that Alzheimer\u2019s can be spread through everyday contact or modern medical practices. <span class=\"credit\">amazing studio \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Following the shocking revelation, the US and other countries stopped using cadaver-derived c-hGH in 1985, eventually replacing it with a safe, synthetic version.<\/p>\n<p>But now, researchers are seeing worrying signs in patients who received c-hGH but never developed CJD.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>In the new study, scientists at the UK National Prion Clinic followed four men who received c-hGH as children. <\/p>\n<p>All four eventually developed <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/17\/health\/5-early-dementia-signs-people-often-miss\/\">early-onset dementia<\/a>, even though none had genetic factors that would increase their risk. <\/p>\n<p>Their symptoms appeared between ages 47 and 60, with language and speech difficulties among the first signs of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/12\/12\/health\/4-warning-signs-that-may-indicate-early-alzheimers-disease\/\">cognitive decline<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>An autopsy of one man who died at 57 revealed that his brain was riddled with two abnormal proteins considered the hallmarks of Alzheimer\u2019s disease: amyloid-beta plaques and tau tangles.<\/p>\n<p>Amyloid-beta plaques are dense, sticky clusters that accumulate between nerve cells and disrupt communication, while tau tangles form inside brain cells, slowly killing them and causing tissue to shrink. <\/p>\n<p>The other three men had abnormal amyloid levels in their cerebrospinal fluid, and brain scans revealed significant shrinkage in the regions responsible for memory and language.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>All the patients developed Alzheimer\u2019s at a younger age than usual, and none had genetic risk factors for the disease.  <span class=\"credit\">Chinnapong \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These findings build on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-023-02729-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">five earlier case studies<\/a> from the UK National Prion Clinic, which suggested that the c-hGH given to patients may have been contaminated with misfolded proteins that gradually trigger a buildup of amyloid-beta in the brain.<\/p>\n<p>The result, the researchers said, is iatrogenic Alzheimer\u2019s disease (iAD), a rare form of the condition thought to stem from <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/02\/01\/health\/alzheimers-disease-found-to-be-transmitted-through-this-medical-treatment-in-bombshell-study\/#!\">medical transmission<\/a> rather than aging or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nia.nih.gov\/health\/alzheimers-causes-and-risk-factors\/alzheimers-disease-genetics-fact-sheet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">genetics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs stated in our earlier report, these findings do not mean that Alzheimer\u2019s disease is contagious in a conventional sense,\u201d the study authors wrote. \u201cTransmission has occurred in rare circumstances in the context of cadaveric tissues that are no longer used.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the concept of iAD has sparked skepticism. <\/p>\n<p>Outside researchers note that the evidence mainly supports the transmission of amyloid-beta, not Alzheimer\u2019s itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeither this report nor earlier reports provide substantial evidence of iatrogenic Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and definitive causation may remain elusive,\u201d a pair of outside scientists wrote in an <a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamaneurology\/article-abstract\/2847010\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accompanying editorial<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the study authors stand by their findings, noting that iAD is newly recognized and its full range of physical and behavioral signs hasn\u2019t yet been mapped out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe therefore advise clinicians to be vigilant for any cognitive changes in recipients of cadaveric human growth hormone,\u201d Dr. John Collinge, one of the study authors, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.medpagetoday.com\/neurology\/alzheimersdisease\/120562\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told MedPage Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/04\/health\/discontinued-corpse-hormone-treatment-may-cause-alzheimers\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s in the past doesn\u2019t always stay buried.\u00a0 A new study suggests that a hormone therapy harvested from human corpses may be linked to a rare,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}