果冻影院

Professor Nick Fox has spent more than 20 years diagnosing and treating people with dementia and supporting patients, families and carers affected by the disease.

He is at the forefront of dementia research, with a focus on early onset and inherited Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.

This week he will address the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association International Conference 鈥� the biggest event in dementia science 鈥� on what we know and don鈥檛 know about early onset Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and what treatments we lack.

鈥淭his has been a neglected area of research,鈥� says Prof Fox, a consultant neurologist at 果冻影院H and Director of the 果冻影院 Dementia Research Centre.

鈥淭he perception is that Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is something people have in their 70s and 80s. But it also affects people much younger 鈥� sometimes 30 or 40 years younger 鈥� and can present differently, so it is not always spotted early.鈥�

Prof Fox is among a select group of researchers invited to give a plenary address to the 2020 AAIC and the only one from the UK. Over 20,000 people from around the world have registered to attend 鈥� this year remotely.

鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to be speaking. It鈥檚 a rare thing to be asked, so it鈥檚 a real honour and a career highlight.鈥�

Interest in dementia research in general has gone up in recent years, and Prof Fox鈥檚 果冻影院H/果冻影院 research team has grown steadily thanks to funding from the National Institute for Health Research and others. He now leads a dedicated dementia theme that is part of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at 果冻影院H.

However, while research has led to a greater understanding of disease, there is still a large unmet need for treatments and for improvements in diagnosis.

鈥淪o far we haven鈥檛 found any treatments which can slow or reverse disease progression. We can only relieve symptoms.鈥�

His team has been working on a number of potential treatments, however, including drugs that aim to reduce harmful levels of tau protein found in brain cells, which may be a cause of dementia.

He has also led analysis of immunotherapy trials for dementia 鈥� where the body鈥檚 immune system is put to work to fight the disease.

As this work continues, separately, thanks to a 拢5m grant from the Sigrid Rausing Trust, his team will start developing gene therapies that aim to 鈥榮ilence鈥� the genes responsible for dementia.

鈥淚mmunotherapy and gene therapies are particularly exciting. In the end, it may be that there is not one single treatment 鈥� we may instead be offering combination therapy.鈥�

Prof Fox and colleagues are also improving diagnosis of dementia. Working with collaborators in Sweden they have recently shown that a聽聽could make diagnosis of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease possible at the first sign of symptoms.

Prof Fox could easily have ended up working in a different area of medicine 鈥� or a different profession altogether.

Unsure what career path to follow after a degree in physics and physiology, he worked as a civil servant on the Soviet desk in the Foreign Office, before studying medicine as a mature student. During his medical training, he spent time at the 果冻影院 Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

鈥淎t that time I wasn鈥檛 sure which way I wanted my career to go 鈥� one area I was considering was public health.

鈥淎t Queen Square my supervisor suggested I apply for a clinical research fellowship being offered by the Alzheimer鈥檚 Society 鈥� and I became one of the first holders of that fellowship from 1993-96. My project was on inherited forms of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease 鈥� an area that has been my research focus ever since.鈥�

鈥淪ince that time, having worked closely with patients and their families, I have stayed in neurology and remained at 果冻影院, apart from short rotations elsewhere as I completed medical training.鈥�

His contact with patients and families led to Prof Fox helping to set up and run聽, a service for patients, relatives and carers, which was the first of its kind in the world and whose work involves face-to-face support groups.

During Covid-19, the service has moved online 鈥� and has stepped up its work in response to a doubling of calls to the service. Prof Fox and colleagues recently wrote a letter聽聽in the BMJ about the support needed for families during the pandemic.

鈥淐ovid-19 has posed unique challenges for those affected by dementia. Some patients are more vulnerable to infection 鈥� due to their reliance on touch, for instance.

鈥淚n addition, patients don鈥檛 necessarily understand why they have had to stay at home, and carers have lost time to themselves. So we are supporting families around these challenges.鈥�

Taking the long view, Prof Fox is optimistic about how dementia research and support will evolve.

鈥淥ur work to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and dementia 鈥� at any age 鈥� will mean patients and families can get the support they need at an earlier stage.

鈥淎nd the number of treatments in the pipeline means there is real promise that we will be able to prevent or slow disease progression in future. I hope that offers some hope to patients and families with these devastating diseases.鈥�

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Professor Nick Fox is a plenary speaker at the AAIC聽on Wednesday 29 July.

聽is open聽until Friday 31 July, and recordings of talks will be made available throughout the week and will be available to watch on-demand.