Common drug could be used to treat dementia which affects millions worldwide
A team of researchers has found that a commonly used drug used to treat an entirely separate disease could be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's.
One in three seniors in the US die with this grim neurological disease or another form of dementia and this figure is expected to rise as the population ages and risk factors worsen. As it stands it's estimated 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's.
The international team of researchers found that a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) could also be used to treat this form of dementia as it targets inflammation - a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.
The new findings were published in the journal eBioMedicine, part of The Lancet Discovery Science series in August, reports NeuroscienceNews.
Researchers across the world are tackling this awful disease (Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)Erhard Bieberich, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physiology in the UK College of Medicine, said: “We stand at the threshold of a critical endeavour to develop new treatment strategies against Alzheimer’s disease. We’ve uncovered that a medication already on the market, ponesimod (brand name ‘Ponvory’), can reduce one of the hallmarks of this disease: neuroinflammation.”
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Ponesimod is an oral medication that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved to treat relapsing forms of MS so getting approval for it to treat Alzheimer's will be far easier than developing a drug from scratch.
It reduces inflammation in the brain by targeting a specific receptor in the immune system to help regulate the body's response and stop it attacking the central nervous system.
“We are the first to show that ponesimod is effective in a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr Bieberich. “Since this drug is already in clinical use for therapy of relapsing multiple sclerosis, it is immediately available to be used in Alzheimer’s disease therapy as well.”
A carer helps an elderly person along (Getty Images/iStockphoto)The researchers focused on a specific type of cell called microglia, which have a number of functions including regulating inflammatory responses in the nervous system.
The scientists studied mice with specific genetic strains that are meant to imitate features of Alzheimer's. Half of the mice were treated with ponesimod and their spatial memory tested through a maze behaviour test.
“That specific test is a measure of the spontaneous tendency of the mice to alternate their free choices to enter the two arms of the maze,” said Zhihui Zhu, PhD and first-author of the study. “Our tests indicate ponesimod rescues attention and working memory in mice with advanced Alzheimer’s pathology.”
Human brain samples were also acquired for testing and the data collected from those tests indicated ponesimod can be used as a therapy for Alzheimer’s.
“Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, one of the major causes for disease progression and a promising target for therapy,” said Dr Bieberich.
“Our study shows strong experimental evidence that ponesimod may be a therapeutic drug, which not only reduces neuroinflammation but also enhances the clearance of neurotoxic proteins in the brain in middle and late-stage Alzheimer’s.”
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