Life Imitates Art

You likely know the ancient saying, 'art imitates life'? Well, every so often (not so often) life is seen to imitate art. Here's a 2003 L&O:CI episode, in which there are three protagonists (not counting the L&O:CI cast). One is a youngish fellow, his fiance, and his father. Secondary to them is the daughter to a geezer who has just died, and is the obligatory murder victim.

The murder occurs because geezer's daughter had arranged for the geezer to be cryo-ed, but someone (we don't know who or why for a while) objects and has her killed.

It turns out, we eventually know, the geezer had overcome Alzheimer's decades earlier and the youngish fellow is revealed to be an early-onset victim, and his father (a rich white guy, of course) wants the geezer's brain to get a cure for his son. A bit far-fetched, especially in 2003. Turns out, life is imitating art.

The crux of the matter: in the episode -

Father: My team is on the verge of isolating the mechanism in his brain that produced high levels of the APoE2 protein. That's the key!
Goren: You found high levels of E2 in Kitteridge's brain?

The jig is up on Dad, and so forth.

So, today's NYT has a report which tells us that APOE2 does, in fact, protect (to some extent) against Alzheimer's, and that APOE4 is causative. And the bit about getting hold of Kitteridge's brain isn't farfetched now -

Another gene-therapy approach being studied involves injecting APOE2 into patients' brains.

Ain't science grand? Well, not for the MARF^™(party like it's 1829) crowd.