Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis found potential new treatment targets for Alzheimer’s disease, as well as existing drugs that have therapeutic potential against these targets.
They identified 15 FDA-approved drugs that may help slow, and reverse Alzheimer’s disease.
The research is published in Nature Neuroscience.
The potential targets are defective proteins that lead to the buildup of amyloid in the brain, contributing to the onset of problems with memory and thinking which are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s.
The 15 existing drugs the researchers identified have received FDA approval for other purposes.
In addition, the experiments yielded seven drugs that may be useful for treating faulty proteins linked to Parkinson’s disease, six for stroke, and one for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Scientists have worked for decades to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s by targeting genes rooted in the disease process but have had little success.
In the new study, the team used human samples and the latest technologies to better understand the biology of Alzheimer’s disease.
The scientists focused on protein levels in the brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and blood plasma of people with and without Alzheimer’s disease.
Some of the proteins were made by genes previously linked to Alzheimer’s risk, while others were made by genes not previously connected to the disease.
After identifying the proteins, the researchers compared their results to several databases of existing drugs that affect those proteins.
They applied those findings and machine learning techniques to distinguish among the protein differences and zero in on some of the proteins that contribute to the damage that leads to Alzheimer’s.
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If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies about how to cope if your loved one has Alzheimer’s disease ,and these 2 things at age 35 linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about how to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, and results showing why women are more susceptible to Alzheimer’s.
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