A diabetes drug has showed promising results in animal tests for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
The research, published in Brain Research, could bring substantial improvements in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease through the use of three hormones originally used to treat type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Professor Christian Holscher of Lancaster University in the UK said the novel treatment “holds clear promise of being developed into a new treatment for chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. Some estimates say figures for India could be as high as 4 million.
Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “With no new treatments in nearly 15 years, we need to find new ways of tackling Alzheimer’s. It’s imperative that we explore whether drugs developed to treat other conditions can benefit people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. This approach to research could make it much quicker to get promising new drugs to the people who need them.”
Although the benefits of these drugs have so far only been found in mice, other studies with existing diabetes drugs such as liraglutide have shown real promise for people with Alzheimer’s, so further development of this work is crucial.
Professor Holscher said: “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. Clinical studies with an older version of this drug type already showed very promising results in people with Alzheimer’s disease or with mood disorders”
Type 2 diabetes is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s and has been implicated in the progression of the disease. Impaired insulin has been linked to cerebral degenerative processes in type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Insulin desensitisation has also been observed in the Alzheimer’s disease brain. The desensitisation could play a role in the development of neurodegenerative disorders as insulin is a growth factor with neuroprotective properties.
