In the year 1901, a woman called Auguste was taken to a medical asylum in Frankfurt. Auguste was delusional and couldn't remember even the most basic details of her life. Her doctor was called Alois. Alois didn't know how to help Auguste, but he watched over her until, sadly, she passed away in 1906. After she died, Alois performed an autopsy and found strange plaques and tangles in Auguste's brain -- the likes of which he'd never seen before.
No ano 1901 unha muller chamada Auguste foi levada a un psiquiátrico de Frankfurt. Auguste deliraba e non lembraba nin os detalles máis básicos da súa vida. O seu médico chamábase Alois. Alois non sabía cómo axudarlle a Auguste, pero mirou por ela ata que, por desgraza, ela faleceu en 1906. Logo de que morrera, Alois realizoulle unha autopsia e atopou placas e enguedellos estraños no cerebro de Auguste, como nunca tal vira.
Now here's the even more striking thing. If Auguste had instead been alive today, we could offer her no more help than Alois was able to 114 years ago. Alois was Dr. Alois Alzheimer. And Auguste Deter was the first patient to be diagnosed with what we now call Alzheimer's disease. Since 1901, medicine has advanced greatly. We've discovered antibiotics and vaccines to protect us from infections, many treatments for cancer, antiretrovirals for HIV, statins for heart disease and much more. But we've made essentially no progress at all in treating Alzheimer's disease.
Pero hai algo aínda máis rechamante. Se Auguste estivese viva hoxe, non lle daríamos prestado máis axuda da que Alois puido darlle hai 114 anos. Alois era o Dr. Alois Alzheimer. E Auguste Deter foi a primeira doente diagnosticada co que agora chamamos enfermidade de Alzheimer. Desde 1901 a medicina leva avanzado moito. Descubrimos antibióticos e vacinas para protexérmonos das infeccións, moitos tratamentos para o cancro, antirretrovirais para o VIH, estatinas para as doenzas cardíacas, e moito máis. Pero practicamente non progresamos nada tratando a enfermidade de Alzheimer.
I'm part of a team of scientists who has been working to find a cure for Alzheimer's for over a decade. So I think about this all the time. Alzheimer's now affects 40 million people worldwide. But by 2050, it will affect 150 million people -- which, by the way, will include many of you. If you're hoping to live to be 85 or older, your chance of getting Alzheimer's will be almost one in two. In other words, odds are you'll spend your golden years either suffering from Alzheimer's or helping to look after a friend or loved one with Alzheimer's. Already in the United States alone, Alzheimer's care costs 200 billion dollars every year. One out of every five Medicare dollars get spent on Alzheimer's. It is today the most expensive disease, and costs are projected to increase fivefold by 2050, as the baby boomer generation ages.
Pertenzo a un equipo científico que vén traballando na busca dunha cura ao Alzheimer desde hai máis dunha década. Así que penso nisto todo o tempo. O alzhéimer afecta actualmente a 40 millóns de persoas no mundo. Pero en 2050 afectará a 150 millóns... incluídos, por certo, moitos de vostedes. Se esperan vivir ata os 85 ou máis, a súa probabilidade de ter alzhéimer será case de unha entre dúas. Noutras palabras, o máis probable é que pasen os seus anos dourados ou padecendo alzhéimer ou axudando a coidar dun amigo ou dalgún ser querido que o padece. Só nos Estados Unidos de América, a atención do alzhéimer custa xa 200 mil millóns de dólares cada ano. Un de cada cinco dólares de Medicare gástase no alzhéimer. É hoxe a doenza máis cara, e prevese que os custos se multiplicarán por cinco en 2050, ao envellecer a xeración do baby boom.
It may surprise you that, put simply, Alzheimer's is one of the biggest medical and social challenges of our generation. But we've done relatively little to address it. Today, of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, Alzheimer's is the only one we cannot prevent, cure or even slow down. We understand less about the science of Alzheimer's than other diseases because we've invested less time and money into researching it. The US government spends 10 times more every year on cancer research than on Alzheimer's despite the fact that Alzheimer's costs us more and causes a similar number of deaths each year as cancer.
Talvez lles sorprenda que, falando claro, o alzhéimer sexa un dos meirandes desafíos médicos e sociais da nosa xeración. Mais fixemos relativamente pouco para afrontalo. Hoxe, das dez primeiras causas de morte no mundo, o alzhéimer é a única que non somos quen de previr, curar ou mesmo frear. Entendemos menos do alzhéimer que doutras doenzas porque investimos menos tempo e diñeiro en investigalo. O goberno estadounidense gasta cada ano dez veces máis na investigación do cancro que na do alzhéimer malia custarnos máis o alzhéimer e causar cada ano un número de mortes semellante ao cancro.
The lack of resources stems from a more fundamental cause: a lack of awareness. Because here's what few people know but everyone should: Alzheimer's is a disease, and we can cure it. For most of the past 114 years, everyone, including scientists, mistakenly confused Alzheimer's with aging. We thought that becoming senile was a normal and inevitable part of getting old. But we only have to look at a picture of a healthy aged brain compared to the brain of an Alzheimer's patient to see the real physical damage caused by this disease. As well as triggering severe loss of memory and mental abilities, the damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer's significantly reduces life expectancy and is always fatal.
A falta de recursos xorde dunha causa máis fundamental: a falta de conciencia. Porque velaquí o que poucos saben, pero todos deberían saber: o alzhéimer é unha doenza, e podemos curala. A maior parte dos últimos 114 anos todos, incluídos os científicos, confundiron o alzhéimer co envellecemento. Críamos que quedar senil era unha parte normal e inevitable de ir vello. Pero abonda con ver unha imaxe dun cerebro vello san comparado co cerebro dun doente de alzhéimer para decatarse do dano físico certo causado por esta doenza. Amais de provocar unha grave perda da memoria e das capacidades mentais, o dano cerebral causado polo alzhéimer reduce sensiblemente a esperanza de vida
Remember Dr. Alzheimer found strange plaques and tangles in Auguste's brain a century ago. For almost a century, we didn't know much about these. Today we know they're made from protein molecules. You can imagine a protein molecule as a piece of paper that normally folds into an elaborate piece of origami. There are spots on the paper that are sticky. And when it folds correctly, these sticky bits end up on the inside. But sometimes things go wrong, and some sticky bits are on the outside. This causes the protein molecules to stick to each other, forming clumps that eventually become large plaques and tangles. That's what we see in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.
e sempre é fatal. Recorden que o Dr. Alzheimer atopou placas e enguedellos estraños no cerebro de Auguste hai un século. Durante case un século, non soubemos moito acerca deles. Hoxe sabemos que están feitos de moléculas proteicas. Imaxínense unha molécula proteica como un papel que normalmente se prega nunha elaborada figura de papiroflexia. No papel hai partes apegadizas e cando se prega axeitadamente, estas partes apegadizas acaban dentro. Pero ás veces as cousas saen mal, e algunhas partes apegadizas quedan fóra. Isto causa que as moléculas proteicas se peguen unhas ás outras, formando masas que co tempo forman placas e enguedellos grandes. Iso é o que vemos nos cerebros dos doentes con alzhéimer.
We've spent the past 10 years at the University of Cambridge trying to understand how this malfunction works. There are many steps, and identifying which step to try to block is complex -- like defusing a bomb. Cutting one wire might do nothing. Cutting others might make the bomb explore. We have to find the right step to block, and then create a drug that does it.
Pasamos os últimos dez anos na Universidade de Cambridge tratando de entender como funciona esta anomalía. Hai moitos pasos, e identificar o paso que cómpre bloquear é complexo. Como desactivar unha bomba. Cortar un cable podería non facer nada. Cortar outros pode facer explotar a bomba. Temos que dar co paso que cómpre bloquear, e logo crear un fármaco que o faga.
Until recently, we for the most part have been cutting wires and hoping for the best. But now we've got together a diverse group of people -- medics, biologists, geneticists, chemists, physicists, engineers and mathematicians. And together, we've managed to identify a critical step in the process and are now testing a new class of drugs which would specifically block this step and stop the disease.
Ata hai pouco, case todo o que fixemos foi cortar cables e confiar na sorte. Pero agora xuntamos un grupo diverso de persoas: médicos, biólogos, xenetistas, químicos, físicos, enxeñeiros e matemáticos. E xuntos, conseguimos identificar un paso esencial no proceso e estamos agora probando unha nova clase de fármacos para bloquear xusto este paso e deter a enfermidade.
Now let me show you some of our latest results. No one outside of our lab has seen these yet. Let's look at some videos of what happened when we tested these new drugs in worms. So these are healthy worms, and you can see they're moving around normally. These worms, on the other hand, have protein molecules sticking together inside them -- like humans with Alzheimer's. And you can see they're clearly sick. But if we give our new drugs to these worms at an early stage, then we see that they're healthy, and they live a normal lifespan. This is just an initial positive result, but research like this shows us that Alzheimer's is a disease that we can understand and we can cure.
Permítanme amosarlles algúns dos nosos últimos resultados. Ninguén fóra do noso laboratorio os viu aínda. Vexamos uns vídeos do que pasou cando probamos estes fármacos en vermes. Estes son vermes sans, e poden velos moverse normalmente. Estes vermes, porén, teñen neles moléculas proteicas pegadas, como os humanos con alzhéimer, e poden ver que están claramente doentes. Pero se lles damos a estes vermes o noso novo fármaco nunha fase temperá, vemos que están sans, e a súa vida dura o normal. Este é só un primeiro resultado positivo, pero investigacións coma esta amosan que o alzhéimer é unha enfermidade que podemos entender e podemos curar.
After 114 years of waiting, there's finally real hope for what can be achieved in the next 10 or 20 years. But to grow that hope, to finally beat Alzheimer's, we need help. This isn't about scientists like me -- it's about you. We need you to raise awareness that Alzheimer's is a disease and that if we try, we can beat it. In the case of other diseases, patients and their families have led the charge for more research and put pressure on governments, the pharmaceutical industry, scientists and regulators. That was essential for advancing treatment for HIV in the late 1980s. Today, we see that same drive to beat cancer. But Alzheimer's patients are often unable to speak up for themselves. And their families, the hidden victims, caring for their loved ones night and day, are often too worn out to go out and advocate for change. So, it really is down to you. Alzheimer's isn't, for the most part, a genetic disease. Everyone with a brain is at risk. Today, there are 40 million patients like Auguste, who can't create the change they need for themselves. Help speak up for them, and help demand a cure.
Logo de 114 anos de espera, hai por fin unha esperanza real do que pode acadarse nos vindeiros 10 ou 20 anos. Pero para alimentar esa esperanza, para acabar vencendo ao alzhéimer, necesitamos axuda. Non é cousa dos científicos coma min; é cousa de vostedes. Necesitámolos para espertar a conciencia de que o alzhéimer é unha doenza e de que se o intentamos podemos vencela. No caso doutras doenzas, os pacientes e as súas familias lideraron a demanda de máis investigación e fixeron presión sobre os gobernos, a industria farmacéutica, os científicos e os lexisladores. Iso foi esencial para progresar no tratamento do VIH a fins dos 80. Hoxe vemos o mesmo impulso para combater co cancro. Pero moitos doentes de alzhéimer non poden defenderse por si mesmos. E as súas familias, as vítimas ocultas, a coidar aos seres queridos día e noite, están a miúdo demasiado cansas para saír defender o cambio. Así que de feito depende de vostedes. O alzhéimer non é, polo xeral, unha enfermidade xenética. Quenquera que teña cerebro está en risco. Hoxe hai 40 millóns de doentes como Auguste, que non poden por si mesmos crear o cambio que necesitan. Axuden a defendelos, e axuden a reclamar unha cura.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)