
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 23, 1995                   TAG: 9511290031
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

HORMONE USE MAY HOLD HOPE FOR ALZHEIMER'S

Evidence is growing that estrogen may help protect women against Alzheimer's disease, though researchers caution that it's not yet time for menopausal women to run to their doctors for prescriptions.

Supplements of the reproductive hormone may improve mental function of elderly women with Alzheimer's or help patients respond to an Alzheimer's drug, several preliminary studies indicate.

Within a year, researchers expect two much larger studies to yield more definitive evidence. One is following thousands of women on estrogen to see if they develop Alzheimer's; the other is examining estrogen replacement and Alzheimer's therapy in women who have had hysterectomies.

``We will know within the next year or so from these large studies whether there is a significant effect that is worth using the drug in treatment,'' said Steven DeKosky, director of the University of Pittsburgh's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Doctors believe estrogen improves the function of brain cells that produce acetylcholine, a chemical that lets cells talk to each other. They also are the cells most damaged early in Alzheimer's.

Women produce estrogen until menopause, while men's bodies continue converting testosterone into estrogen into later life. Researchers believe this could give men a natural protection against Alzheimer's - and explain why women are three times more likely to develop the disease.

Alzheimer's is a degenerative brain disorder that affects more than 4 million Americans and destroys memory, thought and bodily functions. There is no cure.

But researchers caution that estrogen therapy has potential risks. While research has shown that estrogen supplements strengthen bones and drastically reduce heart attacks, supplements can increase the risk of endometrial and breast cancer in older women.

``I think [estrogen] does promise to significantly reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in women,'' said Stanley Birge, clinical director of the aging program at Washington University in St. Louis.

Birge - who moderated a discussion on estrogen and Alzheimer's at last week's Gerontological Society of America meeting in Los Angeles - added that estrogen replacement ``is not like going out and taking some herbal tea. Estrogens do have some risks.''

In an interview before Saturday's session, Birge said preliminary results from a small estrogen study he's conducting in elderly women with mild to moderate Alzheimer's hints at estrogen's potential.

Of 20 patients, 10 received the drug and 10 got a dummy pill, but neither the women nor their doctors knew who got the drug.

After nine months, eight estrogen recipients showed improved mental function, according to assessments by their doctors or caregivers.

Of the placebo group, half showed deterioration of mental function; half showed no change.

by CNB