A drug doctors use to treat multiple sclerosis may be effective in treating Alzheimer’s symptoms, including memory loss.
In mice, memory improved after 8 weeks of treatment with the drug. The treated mice also showed a reduction in amyloid plaques.
Clinical trials are needed to show whether the drug, glatiramer acetate, can slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects 1 in 9 people aged 65 and older in the United States and 1 in 14 people in this age group in the United Kingdom.
Memory loss is one of the most troubling symptoms of AD. A study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience has found that a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) may help alleviate this symptom.
Researchers from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, NY, carried out the study in mice.
The scientists gave the drug, glatiramer acetate (GA)Trusted Source, to transgenic 3xTg-AD mice for 8 weeks, then assessed their memory skills.
The mice that researchers used in the trial were 15-month-old females. These transgenicTrusted Source mice have three mutations associated with AD. They develop the characteristic plaque and tangle pathology of AD by around 12 months of age.
Researchers gave the trial mice subcutaneous injections of GA for 8 weeks. One control group received injections of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Wild-type mice made up two other control groups, one receiving GA, the other PBS.
“GA has been used for many years to treat MS. It appears to modify T cell responses, so the immune response is less aggressive, but we don’t really understand the mechanism,” said Dr. Michael O’Banion, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, and senior author of the study.
“This is an interesting study exploring the use of a drug developed for another condition as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s. The work done here by Dr. O’Banion and others is a promising first step.”
Dr. Heather Snyder, Ph.D., vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association
After 8 weeks, researchers assessed memory skills in the mice. They also analyzed their brain tissue to look for changes in the microgliaTrusted Source, amyloid plaquesTrusted Source, and tau tanglesTrusted Source.
