Summary: A long-term study found that daily 40Hz light and sound stimulation may help slow cognitive decline in people with late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease. After two years of treatment, participants maintained stronger cognitive performance than typical Alzheimer\u2019s patients and showed reduced levels of tau protein, a key disease biomarker.<\/p>\n
The noninvasive therapy, known as GENUS, works by synchronizing brain activity to a 40Hz gamma rhythm through light and sound. While early-onset patients saw fewer benefits, researchers say the results highlight the potential for a safe, at-home intervention to delay Alzheimer\u2019s progression.<\/p>\n
Key Facts<\/p>\n
Sustained Benefits: Late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s participants maintained higher cognitive scores and improved sleep patterns over two years.Biomarker Reduction: Two participants showed significant decreases in plasma tau levels, linked to Alzheimer\u2019s pathology.Safe and Noninvasive: The GENUS 40Hz light-and-sound therapy was well tolerated and feasible for daily home use.<\/p>\n
Source: Picower Institute at MIT<\/p>\n
A new research paper documents the outcomes of five volunteers who continued to receive 40Hz light and sound stimulation for around two years after participating in an MIT\u00a0early-stage clinical study\u00a0of the potential Alzheimer\u2019s disease therapy.<\/p>\n
The results show that for the three participants with late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease, several measures of cognition remained significantly higher than comparable Alzheimer\u2019s patients in national databases.<\/p>\n
Moreover, in the two late-onset volunteers who donated plasma samples, levels of Alzheimer\u2019s biomarker tau proteins were significantly decreased.<\/p>\n
The three volunteers who experienced these benefits were all female. The two other participants, each of whom were males with early-onset forms of the disease, did not exhibit significant benefits after two years.<\/p>\n
The dataset, while small, represents the longest-term test so far of the safe, non-invasive treatment method (called GENUS, for gamma entrainment using sensory stimuli), which is also being evaluated in a nationwide clinical trial run by MIT-spinoff company Cognito Therapeutics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis pilot study assessed the long-term effects of daily 40Hz multimodal GENUS in patients with mild AD,\u201d the authors wrote in\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s & Dementia: The\u00a0Journal of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that daily 40Hz audiovisual stimulation over 2 years is safe, feasible, and may slow cognitive decline and biomarker progression, especially in late-onset AD patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane Chan, a former research scientist in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the study\u2019s lead and co-corresponding author. Picower Professor\u00a0Li-Huei Tsai, director of The Picower Institute and the\u00a0Aging Brain Initiative\u00a0at MIT, is the study\u2019s senior and co-corresponding author.<\/p>\n
An \u201copen label\u201d extension<\/p>\n
In 2020, MIT enrolled 15 volunteers with mild Alzheimer\u2019s disease in an early-stage trial to evaluate whether an hour a day of 40Hz light and sound stimulation, delivered via an LED panel and speaker in their homes, could deliver clinically meaningful benefits.<\/p>\n
Several studies in mice had shown that the sensory stimulation increases the power and synchrony of 40Hz gamma frequency brain waves, preserves neurons and their network connections, reduces Alzheimer\u2019s proteins such as amyloid and tau, and sustains learning and memory. Several independent groups have also made similar findings over the years.<\/p>\n
MIT\u2019s trial, though cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, found significant benefits after three months. The new study examines outcomes among five volunteers who continued to use their stimulation devices on an \u201copen label\u201d basis for two years.<\/p>\n
These volunteers came back to MIT for a series of tests 30 months after their initial enrollment. Because four participants started the original trial as controls (meaning they initially did not receive 40Hz stimulation), their open label usage was six to 9 months shorter than the 30-month period.<\/p>\n
The testing at 0, 3 and 30 months of enrollment included measurements of their brain wave response to the stimulation, MRI scans of brain volume, measures of sleep quality and a series of five standard cognitive and behavioral tests.<\/p>\n
Two participants gave blood samples. For comparison to untreated controls, the researchers combed through three national databases of Alzheimer\u2019s patients, matching thousands of them on criteria such as age, gender, initial cognitive scores, and retests at similar timepoints across a 30-month span.<\/p>\n
Outcomes and outlook<\/p>\n
The three female late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s volunteers showed improvement or slower decline on most of the cognitive tests, including significantly positive differences compared to controls on three of them.<\/p>\n
These volunteers also showed increased brain-wave responsiveness to the stimulation at 30 months and showed improvement in measures of circadian rhythms. In the two late-onset volunteers who gave blood samples, there were significant declines in phosphorylated tau (47 percent for one and 19.4 percent for the other) on a test recently approved by the FDA as the first plasma biomarker for diagnosing Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most compelling findings from this study was the significant reduction of plasma pTau217, a biomarker strongly correlated with AD pathology, in the two late-onset patients in whom follow-up blood samples were available,\u201d the authors wrote in the journal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese results suggest that GENUS could have direct biological impacts on Alzheimer\u2019s pathology, warranting further mechanistic exploration in larger randomized trials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the initial trial results showed preservation of brain volume at 3 months among those who received 40Hz stimulation, that was not significant at the 30-month timepoint.<\/p>\n
And the two male early-onset volunteers did not show significant improvements on cognitive test scores. Notably, the early onset patients showed significantly reduced brain-wave responsiveness to the stimulation.<\/p>\n
Though the sample is small, the authors hypothesize that the difference between the two sets of patients is likely attributable to the difference in disease onset rather than the difference in gender.<\/p>\n
\u201cGENUS may be less effective in early onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease patients, potentially owing to broad pathological differences from late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease that could contribute to differential responses,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cFuture research should explore predictors of treatment response, such as genetic and pathological markers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, the research team is studying whether GENUS may have a preventative effect when applied before disease onset. The new trial is recruiting participants aged 55+ with normal memory who have or had a close family member with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, including early-onset.<\/p>\n
In addition to Chan and Tsai, the paper\u2019s other authors are Gabrielle de Weck, Brennan L. Jackson,, Ho-Jun Suk, Noah P. Milman, Erin Kitchener, Vanesa S. Fernandez Avalos, MJ Quay, Kenji Aoki, Erika Ruiz, Andrew Becker, Monica Zheng, Remi Philips, Rosalind Firenze, Ute Geigenm\u00fcller, Bruno Hammerschlag, Steven Arnold, Pia Kivis\u00e4kk, Michael Brickhouse, Alexandra Touroutoglou, Emery N. Brown, Edward S. Boyden, Bradford C. Dickerson and, Elizabeth B. Klerman.<\/p>\n
Funding: Funding for the research came from the Freedom Together Foundation, the Robert A. and Renee E. Belfer Family Foundation, the Eleanor Schwartz Charitable Foundation, the Dolby Family, Che King Leo, Amy Wong and Calvin Chin, Kathleen and Miguel Octavio, the Degroof-VM Foundation, the Halis Family Foundation, Chijen Lee, Eduardo Eurnekian, Larry and Debora Hilibrand, Gary Hua and Li Chen, Ko Han Family, Lester Gimpelson, David B Emmes, Joseph P. DiSabato and Nancy E. Sakamoto, Donald A. and Glenda G. Mattes, the Carol and Gene Ludwig Family Foundation, Alex Hu and Anne Gao, Elizabeth K. and Russell L. Siegelman, the Marc Haas Foundation, Dave and Mary Wargo, James D. Cook, and the Nobert H. Hardner Foundation.<\/p>\n
Key Questions Answered:Q: What is GENUS therapy, and how does it work?<\/p>\n
A: GENUS (gamma entrainment using sensory stimuli) delivers synchronized 40Hz light and sound to promote healthy brain-wave activity associated with memory and cognition.<\/p>\n
Q: What improvements were seen in Alzheimer\u2019s patients after long-term use?<\/p>\n
A: Participants with late-onset Alzheimer\u2019s showed slower cognitive decline, improved circadian rhythms, and reduced levels of tau proteins over two years of treatment.<\/p>\n
Q: Why did early-onset Alzheimer\u2019s patients respond differently?<\/p>\n
A: Researchers believe early-onset Alzheimer\u2019s involves broader brain pathology, making it less responsive to gamma-based stimulation.<\/p>\n
About this Alzheimer\u2019s disease and neurotech research news<\/p>\n
Author: David Orenstein<\/a>
Source: Picower Institute at MIT<\/a>
Contact: David Orenstein \u2013 Picower Institute at MIT
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n