A
new study has revealed that rapamycin, a drug that keeps the immune system from
attacking transplanted organs, may help fight Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
found that rapamycin rescued learning and memory deficits in a mouse model of
Alzheimer's.
Senior author, Salvatore Oddo, assistant professor in the Department of
Physiology of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, said that the study
offers the first evidence that the drug is able to reverse Alzheimer's-like
deficits in an animal model.
The researchers also found that the drug also reduced lesions in the brains of
the mice. The lesions are similar to those seen in the brains of people who died
with Alzheimer's.
"Our findings may have a profound clinical implication. Because rapamycin is a
US Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, a clinical trial using it as an
anti-Alzheimer's disease therapy could be started fairly quickly," said Oddo.
Last year three institutions, including the University of Texas' Barshop
Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, announced that rapamycin extended the
life span of aged research mice at each of the sites.
It was the first pharmacologic intervention shown to extend life in an animal
model of aging. Rapamycin, a bacterial product first isolated in soil from the
island Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, also is being tested in cancer research
studies. Rapa Nui is commonly known as Easter Island and is distinguished by
ancient monoliths with faces.
"While it remains to be determined whether our results obtained in mice could be
translated in people, we are very excited as these findings may lead to a new
therapeutic intervention to treat Alzheimer's," Oddo said.
The study has been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry .
Source : The Times of India
