Alzheimer’s potential treatment discovered in two joint cancer drugs

Two cancer drugs could potentially slow down or even reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a new study.

Researchers from the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) explored how common dementia changes the expression of genes (which genes are activated or deactivated) in certain brain cells, according to a press release from the university.

Then they examined which existing drugs approved by the FDA could counter or reverse these changes.

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By analyzing millions of adult electronic medical records over 65, researchers identified two drugs that seemed to reduce the probability of Alzheimer in patients who took them.

Medicines – Letrozone and Irinotecan – are both approved to treat cancer. Letrozole is a medication against breast cancer and the irinotecan treats cancer of the colon and lung.

When scientists tested a combination of the two drugs in mice, they noted a reversal of gene expression changes that were initiated by Alzheimer.

Two cancer drugs could potentially slow down or even reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a new study. (istock)

They also discovered a reduction in pile of tau protein in the brain – a key marker from Alzheimer’s – and an improvement in learning and memory.

“Alzheimer’s disease is delivered with complex changes in the brain, which has made it difficult to study and treatment, but our calculation tools have opened the possibility of attacking the complexity directly,” said the author co-present, Marina Sirota, PHD, interim director of the press release from the UCSF Bakar.

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“We are delighted that our calculation approach has led us to a potential combined therapy for Alzheimer’s disease based on existing drugs approved by the FDA.”

The results of the study, partly funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation, were published in the journal Cell on July 21.

By analyzing millions of adult electronic medical records over 65, researchers identified two drugs that seemed to reduce the probability of Alzheimer in patients who took them. (istock)

Although the result of the study is promising, the researchers recognized several limitations, including the fact that the database they used to identify possible drugs was built from cancer cells, not brain cells.

They also noted that animal models were used.

“Although necessary, validation in animal models may not fully summarize human biology,” wrote the researchers.

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There was also a notable gender difference in response to drugs, male mice responded better than women.

“As a hormonal modulator, the letrozole could contribute to this gender difference,” noted the team. “However, the analysis remains not conclusive due to the small number of male users of Létrozole.”

Electronic medical records could also have limits, “because data tends to be rare and is not collected by thinking of specific research”.

“We hope that this can be quickly reflected in a real solution for millions of patients with Alzheimer’s.”

In the United States, more than seven million people are currently living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s association.

This number should approach 13 million by 2050.

In the United States, more than seven million people are currently living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s association. (istock)

There are currently only two drugs modifying the disease that has been approved by the FDA to treat the UCSF states of Alzheimer.

LECANEMAB (Leqembi) and DONANEMAB (Kisunla) are both monoclonal antibodies which are administered via IV infusions.

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They work by reducing the accumulation of amyloid plates in the brain, but they are only effective for people with Alzheimer’s in an early stage and have the potential of certain serious side effects, according to experts.

(Other Alzheimer’s drugs help symptoms, but do not treat the underlying disease.)

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“Alzheimer’s is probably the result of many alterations in many genes and proteins which, together, disturb the health of the brain,” said the study co-author, Yadong Huang, MD, PHD, professor of neurology and pathology at the UCSF, in the 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.”

Existing Alzheimer’s drugs work by reducing the accumulation of amyloid plates in the brain, but they are only effective for people with an early stage. (istock)

For the future, researchers plan to start a clinical trial to explore the impact of combined drugs on human patients with Alzheimer’s.

“If completely independent data sources, such as single expression data and clinical recordings, guide us to the same paths and the same drugs, then resolve Alzheimer in a genetic model, then we may be on something,” Sirota said in the press release.

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“We hope that this can be quickly reflected in a real solution for millions of patients with Alzheimer’s.”