A Rising Problem with Few Solutions
Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more common. But there’s a problem: we have no drugs that can stop or slow it down. And finding new drugs is hard. It takes a lot of time, money, and effort.
So, some scientists have a clever idea. What if we could find a drug that’s already approved for something else, and it also happens to help with Alzheimer’s? That’s what a team from Karolinska Institutet decided to explore.
A Fresh Look at Diabetes Drugs
Diabetes drugs have been suggested as possible Alzheimer’s fighters before. But the studies didn’t come up with strong proof. So, the Karolinska Institutet team took a different approach. They used genetic methods to dig deeper.
They focused on genetic variants. These are tiny differences in our genes that can affect how a drug works in our bodies.
By studying these variants, the researchers hoped to find out if certain drugs might be useful for more than one disease.
A Big Database, A New Discovery
The team started with a massive amount of data from the UK Biobank register. This included information from over 300,000 people.
They searched this data for genetic variants that would have the same effect as diabetes drugs. That is, lowering blood sugar.
They found variants in two genes linked to a type of diabetes drug called sulfonylureas.
The variants they found were associated with higher insulin release, lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and higher body mass index (BMI). These effects match what the drug does.
A Possible Alzheimer’s Shield?
Next, the researchers checked if these genetic variants were linked to Alzheimer’s disease risk. They used data from over 24,000 people with Alzheimer’s and 55,000 without the disease.
And guess what? The genetic variants related to the sulfonylurea drugs were linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s.
This finding suggests that the target of sulfonylureas, a protein called the KATP channel, might be a new way to tackle Alzheimer’s.
The Next Steps
The KATP channel is found in the pancreas, but also in the brain. We still need to understand more about how it works in the brain. And we need to do more research to confirm these exciting findings.
But this study, led by Bowen Tang and published in Neurology, offers a promising lead in the ongoing quest to combat Alzheimer’s disease.
While we continue this fight, remember to stay informed about both diabetes and Alzheimer’s, and be aware of new studies and discoveries that can help improve your health.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about how unhealthy blood pressure increases your dementia risk, and coconut oil could help improve cognitive function in Alzheimer’s.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that cranberries could help boost memory, and these antioxidants could help reduce dementia risk.
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