Diverse and varied medical conditions may show deposition of amyloid as part of disease changes. These include diverse, unrelated conditions which can strike at any age, such as tuberculosis, leprosy and some tumours.
|
Among the most disturbing of these 'new' killers are a set of degenerative brain diseases known as the amyloidoses. A number of different diseases are characterized by the deposition of strange protein deposits in various organs of the body, e.g. the kidney, spleen, liver or brain. These abnormal or 'amyloid' deposits consist of accumulations of many different proteins in the form of spherical plaques or thin fibrils, depending on their origin. Diverse and varied medical conditions may show deposition of amyloid as part of disease changes. These include diverse, unrelated conditions which can strike at any age, such as tuberculosis, leprosy and some tumours. |
Scientists and doctors do not understand exactly how and why proteins become locked up in these deposits, except that the normal mechanisms which keep vigorous, healthy cells free of this accumulated junk must become damaged or blocked. During various diseases, amyloid deposits can occur in many different tissues throughout the body. In some cases, sufferers recover when their underlying diseases improve or are cured. However, there is disease where there can be no recovery and where the formation of these protein deposits can only lead to a long and lingering decline which inevitably ends in death.
