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.
Godine 1901, žena zvana Augusta odvedena je u mentalnu ustanovu u Frankfurtu. Augusta je bila izgubljena i nije mogla da se priseti najosnovnijih detalja iz svog života. Njen doktor zvao se Aloiz. Aloiz nije znao kako da pomogne Augusti, ali ju je pazio sve dok, nažalost, nije preminula 1906. Nakon njene smrti, Aloiz je izvršio autopsiju i pronašao čudne mrlje i čvorove unutar Augustinog mozga - kakve nikada pre nije video.
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.
Evo nečeg još zanimljivijeg. Da je Augusta živa danas, ne bismo mogli da joj pružimo više pomoći nego pre 114 godina. Aloiz je bio dr Aloiz Alchajmer, a Augusta Diter bila je prva pacijentkinja koja je imala ono što danas nazivamo Alchajmerovom bolešću. Od 1901, medicina je značajno napredovala. Otkrili smo antibiotike i vakcine koji nas štite od zaraza, mnoge terapije za rak, antiretroviruse za HIV, statine za bolesti srca kao i još mnogo toga. Ali nismo napravili skoro nikakav pomak u lečenju Alchajmerove bolesti.
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.
Ja sam deo tima naučnika koji preko decenije radi na pronalasku leka za Alchajmerovu bolest. Ja stalno razmišljam o ovome. Alchajmer sada pogađa 40 miliona ljudi širom sveta. Ali do 2050, od ove bolesti patiće 150 miliona ljudi - gde će pripadati i mnogi od vas. Ukoliko se nadate da ćete živeti 85 i više godina, vaše šanse da imate Alchajmerovu bolest biće skoro jedan u dva slučaja. Drugim rečima, sve su šanse da ćete svoje zlatno doba provesti ili pateći od Alchajmera, ili pomažući u staranju oko prijatelja ili nekog dragog sa Alchajmerom. Samo u Sjedinjenim državama, briga o Alchajmerovoj bolesti košta 200 milijardi dolara godišnje. Jedan od svakih pet dolara za medicinsko osiguranje troši se na Alchajmera. To je najskuplja bolest današnjice, i predviđa se da će se troškovi povećati petostruko do 2050, kako stari generacija bejbi bumera.
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.
Možda će vas inznediti to što je Alchajmer, prosto rečeno, jedan od najvećih medicinskih i društvenih izazova naše generacije. Ali uradili smo relativno malo toga da bismo ga rešili. Od prvih 10 uzroka smrti širom sveta danas, Alchajmerova bolest je jedini koji ne može da se spreči, izleči ili čak uspori. O nauci iza Alchajmera znamo manje nego kod drugih bolesti jer smo u istraživanje ove bolesti uložili manje vremena i novca. Vlada SAD svake godine troši 10 puta više novca na istraživanje raka nego Alchajmera uprkos činjenici da nas Alchajmer košta više i prouzrokuje sličan broj mrtvih svake godine kao i rak.
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.
Manjak sredstava potiče iz osnovnijeg razloga: manjak svesti. Evo nečega što malo ljudi zna, a trebalo bi da znaju svi: Alchajmerova bolest je zaista bolest i mi možemo da je izlečimo. Većinu proteklih 114 godina, svako je mešao Alchajmera sa starenjem, uključujući i naučnike. Mislili smo da je senilnost normalan i neizbežan deo starenja. Ali samo treba da pogledamo sliku zdravog starijeg mozga u poređenju sa mozgom pacijenta Alchajmerove bolesti da bismo videli stvarnu fizičku štetu koju nanosi bolest. Pored toga što izaziva ozbiljan gubitak sećanja i mentalnih sposobnosti, šteta koju Alchajmer prouzrokuje na mozgu značajno smanjuje životni vek i uvek je smrtonosna.
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.
Setite se da je dr Alchajmer na mozgu Auguste pronašao čudne mrlje i čvorove pre jednog veka. Skoro čitav vek o njima nismo znali puno. Danas znamo da se sastoje od molekula proteina. Zamislite molekul proteina kao komad papira koji se normalno savija u kompleksan origami. Postoje lepljivi delovi papira. Kada se papir smota pravilno, ovi lepljivi delovi završe unutra. Ali ponekad stvari krenu kako ne treba i neki lepljiivi delovi završe napolju. Zbog ovoga se molekuli proteina lepe jedni za druge i stvaraju grumenje koje se pretvara u mrlje i čvorove. To je ono što vidimo u mozgovima pacijenata od Alchajmera.
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.
Proteklih 10 godina proveli smo na Univerzitetu Kembridž pokušavajući da razumemo kako se dešava ova greška. Postoji mnogo koraka, a prepoznavanje koji korak treba da se blokira je složeno, poput deaktiviranja bombe. Ukoliko presečete jednu žicu, možda se neće desiti ništa. Ukoliko presečete druge, bomba će možda eksplodirati. Moramo da otkrijemo koji tačno korak da blokiramo i onda da stvorimo lek koji to radi.
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.
Sve do skoro, uglavnom smo sekli žice i nadali se najboljem. Ali sada imamo raznovrsnu grupu ljudi - lekare, biologe, genetičare, hemičare, fizičare, inženjere i matematičare. Zajedno, uspeli smo da otkrijemo ključni korak u procesu i sada isprobavamo novu vrstu lekova koji bi blokirali tačno ovaj korak i zaustavili bolest.
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.
Sada ću vam pokazati neke od najnovijih rezultata. Niko van naše laboratorije nije ovo video do sada. Pogledajmo neke snimke toga šta se desilo kada smo ove nove lekove testirali na crvima. Ovo su zdravi crvi, i možete videti da se kreću normalno. Sa druge strane, ovi crvi imaju molekule proteina unutar sebe koji se lepe - poput ljudi sa Alchajmerom. Jasno se vidi da su bolesni. Ali ako naše nove lekove damo ovim crvima na vreme, možemo videti da su zdravi i imaju normalan životni vek. Ovo je samo prvobitni pozitivni rezultat, ali istraživanja poput ovih pokazuju da je Alchajmerova bolest nešto što se može razumeti i lečiti.
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.
Nakon 114 godina čekanja, konačno postoji prava nada da se nešto može postići u narednih 10 ili 20 godina. Ali da bi ta nada rasla, da konačno pobedimo Alchajmera, treba nam pomoć. Ovde se ne radi o naučnicima poput mene - već o vama. Potrebno je da podignete svest o tome da je ovo bolest i da možemo da je pobedimo ako pokušamo. Što se tiče drugih bolesti, pacijenti i njihove porodice povele su inicijativu za još istraživanja i pritiskale vlade, farmaceutsku industriju, naučnike i pravnike. To je bilo ključno za unapređivanje lečenja HIV-a krajem 80-tih godina. Danas vidimo istu inicijativu da se pobedi rak. Ali pacijenti koji pate od Alchajmera često ne mogu sami da se oglase. Njihove porodice, skrivene žrtve koje brinu o najdražima danonoćno, često su previše iznurene da izađu i bore se za promenu. Tako da sve zaista pada na vas. Alchajmer uglavnom nije genetska bolest. Svako ko ima mozak je podložan bolesti. Danas postoji 40 miliona pacijenata poput Auguste, koji ne mogu da stvore promenu koja im je potrebna. Pomozite da se oni oglase i zahtevajte lek.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)