A team of researchers at the American University of Kentucky found that a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis may be effective as a treatment against Alzheimer’s, which represents hope for millions of patients around the world.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, irreversible neurological disorder that affects cognitive function, memory, and behavior.
“We stand on the threshold of a critical quest to develop new treatment strategies against Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr Erhard Biebrich, Professor in the UK’s Department of Physiology. “We discovered that a drug already on the market, ponesimod (brand name Ponvory), can reduce one of the hallmarks of this disease: neuroinflammation,” he added.
The findings were published in August in the journal eBioMedicine, part of the Lancet Discovery Science series.
The team studied bunisemod, an oral drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat relapsing forms of MS. The drug reduces inflammation in the brain by targeting a specific receptor in the immune system to help regulate the body’s response and stop it from attacking the central nervous system. This receptor is activated and its function is being studied by Prof. Biebrich’s laboratory.
“We are the first to show that punisemod is effective in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Since this drug is already in clinical use for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, it is immediately available for use in Alzheimer’s disease as well,” says Biebrich.
British researchers studied a specific type of cell found in the central nervous system called microglia. Cells perform many functions in our bodies, including regulating inflammatory responses in the central nervous system: the brain and spinal cord.
Malfunctioning microglia are associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease because these cells help clear the buildup of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, which is a hallmark of the disease. These build-ups disrupt communication between nerve cells in the brain, which eventually leads to their death.
“Removing these proteins is an important goal for treating Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Zihui Zhu, first author of the study and one of the scientists in Biebrich’s lab. Neuroinflammation of Alzheimer’s disease and memory improvement in a mouse model.
As part of the project, the researchers studied mice with specific genetic strains that express key features of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains. They treated half of the mice with ponisemod and measured the activity of a specific brain cell. The spatial memory of the mice was also tested through the maze behavior test.
“Our tests indicate that punisemod rescues attention and working memory in mice with advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Zhou said.
The scientists also worked with Alzheimer’s Research UK within the Sanders Brown Center on Aging to obtain samples of the human brain for study. The data collected from those tests was consistent and also indicated that bunisemod could be used as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor Biebrich said: “Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, and is one of the main causes of disease progression. It is, therefore, an important target for any potential therapy. Our study shows strong experimental evidence that bonisemod may be a therapeutic drug, not only reducing neuroinflammation but enhancing It also removes toxic proteins from the nerves in the brain in middle- and late-stage Alzheimer’s.”
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