Two Cancer Drugs Show Surprising Promise in Treating Alzheimer’s
In the United States alone, Seven million people live with Alzheimer’s diseaseBut the processing options remain limited. Although cases should triple by 2050, only a handful of drugs are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), none of which can cure or reverse progression, only manage the symptoms.
Motivated by this lack of options, researchers from UC San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes have explored if drugs already approved – although drugs approved to deal with different conditions – could help. Interestingly, a combination of two cancer drugs has stood out: research on mice showed that this combination reduced cerebral degeneration and restored memory, according to the results recently published in CellPointing towards a powerful treatment path never considered before.
Genetic traces of Alzheimer’s disease
“Alzheimer’s disease is probably the result of many alterations of many genes and proteins which, together, disturb the health of the brain,” said Yadong Huang, author co-senor of the study in a press release. “This makes it very difficult for the development of drugs – which traditionally produces a drug for a single gene or protein that causes a disease.”
To fight against this complexity, the team gathered data accessible to the public from three studies measuring the expression of genes in the cells of the deceased donors with or without Alzheimer. Using these data sets, they have created gene expression signatures representing the disease in certain brain cells, then compared them to those of Connectivity cardA cataloging database How thousands of drugs affect the expression of genes in human cells.
From an initial pool of 1,300 drugs, 86 showed potential to reverse the signature of gene expression of Alzheimer in one type of brain cell, and 25 have reversed it in several types of cells, which makes it more powerful for a complex condition such as Alzheimer. However, only 10 of these drugs had already been approved by the FDA for human use.
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Cancer drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease?
To restrict the list, the research team has verified the anonymized medical records in the UC health data warehouse, covering 1.4 million people over 65, to see if one of the promising drugs also reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as a side effect.
“Thanks to all these sources of existing data, we went from 1,300 drugs to 86, at 10, to only 5,” said Yaqiao Li, principal, in the press release. “In particular, the rich data collected by all the UC health centers indicated directly to the most promising drugs. It’s a bit like a clinical trial simulation. “
Of the five main candidates, the researchers chose two cancer drugs for laboratory tests. They supposed that the letrozole, commonly used to treat breast cancer, would improve neural health, while the irinotecan, used for colon and lung cancer, would benefit glial cells.
Next step: clinical trials
To test their hypothesis, the team used a mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease. The combination of the two drugs has done wonders: treatment revoked signatures of harmful gene expression in neurons and glie, reduces clusters of toxic proteins and cerebral degeneration and restored memory.
“It is so exciting to see the validation of calculation data in a widely used Alzheimer’s mouse model,” said Huang, anticipating the transition to clinical trial to soon test combined therapy in Alzheimer’s patients.
“We hope that this can be quickly translated as a real solution for millions of patients with Alzheimer’s,” added the co-author of the Marina Sirota study in the press release.
Sirota stressed how the combination of calculation approaches with existing medical data opens up new paths in the discovery of drugs. “Alzheimer’s disease is delivered with complex changes in the brain, which has made study and treatment difficult, but our calculation tools have opened the possibility of fighting directly on complexity,” she said. “We are delighted that [it] We have led to potential combined therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on existing drugs approved by the FDA. »»
This article does not offer medical advice and should be used for information purposes only.
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Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in laboratories in three countries, Jenny excels in translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the last nutritions – into accessible and engaging content. His interests extend to subjects such as human evolution, psychology and stories of eccentric animals. When it is not immersed in a popular scientific book, you will find it to catch waves or sail on the island of Vancouver on its longboard.
