New Diabetes Drug Reverses Memory Loss in Mice with Alzheimer’s
A groundbreaking new study by UK and Chinese universities is the first to look at a new combined diabetes drug and found improvements in several characteristic symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Previous studies have shown that the incretin hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) have anti-diabetic properties show very promising effects in animal models of AD.
This could be a result of insulin not getting to the cells properly – insulin is a growth factor which is known to protect brain cells, and insulin resistance has been observed in Alzheimer’s disease brains, as well as being the biological mechanism behind type 2 diabetes.
So researchers have been investigating whether drugs that treat type 2 diabetes might also benefit Alzheimer’s symptoms for a while now.
This particular study’s “very promising outcomes” show multi-action drugs developed for type 2 diabetes “consistently show neurological protective effects”.
The new drug is known as a triple receptor drug, meaning that it targets Alzheimer’s in multiple ways. People with Alzheimer’s have impaired growth factors – substances like hormones that stimulate growth – in their brains. Therefore, the treatment combines
three growth factors: GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon.The mice in the study were specifically created to express certain genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease in humans. The researchers waited for the mice to age before giving them the drug, therefore giving their disease some time to develop and damage the animal’s brain. Once given the drug, the animals were then made to conduct a maze test designed to measure their memory.
Results revealed that after being given the drug, aged mice that already had signs of a rodent version of Alzheimer’s disease showed improved learning and memory skills. The results were also seen on a biological level, and these mice displayed reduced amounts of plaque buildup in the brain, a major hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, these mice also had reduced levels of chronic inflammation in their brains, overall slower rates of brain nerve cell loss and increased brain nerve cell protection.
“These very promising outcomes demonstrate the efficacy of these novel multiple receptor drugs that originally were developed to treat type 2 diabetes but have shown consistent neuro- protective effects in several studies,” said senior author Christian Hölscher of Lancaster University in the UK.
There’s still a long way to go before its clear whether or not this drug will have the same effect in humans, and whether it’s the best option to move forward with.
“Further dose-response tests and direct comparisons with other drugs have to be conducted in order to evaluate if this new [drug] is superior to previous ones,” Hölscher added.
But the fact that this multi-approach drug has shown such promising results so far is incredibly exciting, and is a great way to start 2018.
