María Javier Ramírez PHOTO: Manuel Castells.

A project of the department of Pharmacology of the University of Navarra focuses on the early detection of Alzheimer's disease through genetic markers based on diabetes, a disease that increases the risk of suffering this dementia by 50-70%. The advances of this study were presented during the event organized by the academic center to account for the projects that last year participated in the program 'You choose, you decide' of Caja Navarra.

The director of the study, Doctor of Pharmacy María Javier Ramírez, recalls that this disease affects some 600,000 people in Spain and approximately 9,000 in Navarra. "And the problem is on the increase, since it is associated with the aging of the population," the researcher assures. "In fact, in Spain, 10% of people over 65 and 35% of those over 85 suffer from Alzheimer's disease. It is also the most common cause of dementia in Europe".

Likewise, the statistics are worse in the case of diabetics -around 2 million in Spain-. For this reason, the project, called 'Alzheimer: search for new avenues of treatment', aims to find new targets for early diagnosis -through insulin-based blood markers- and on the other hand, to create treatments focused on antidiabetics: "We are looking for possible biological mechanisms that explain what is wrong and whether the error has to do with diabetes," he explains.

The project issue 14229, developed in partnership with the Casa de Misericordia de Pamplona, focuses on taking blood samples from elderly people, the development of questionnaires to establish their cognitive status and the crossing of both data to discern whether there would be an early marker in blood that betrays the presence of the disease. This determination, in addition, is carried out through the Biochemistry Service of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

11,363 votes and 734,082.39 euros
Last year a total of 39 projects from the University of Navarra participated in the 'You choose, you decide' program. These initiatives received 11,363 votes and funding of 734,082.39 euros. Among the most chosen were research on the genetic causes of leukemia, the application of stem cells in the treatment of diabetes, nanotechnology and the treatment of cancer or the effects of atmospheric pollution in the Navarre Pyrenees.

Fernando de la Puente, director of research and development of the University, and the researchers María Javier Ramírez, Ignacio Moriyón and Carmen Sanmartín took part in the presentation. In addition, there was an opportunity to visit exhibition with posters on the initiatives.

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