Could an Anti-Cancer Drug Reverse Alzheimers Memory Problems?

New research from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health reveals that an anti-cancer drug may reverse memory problems in an Alzheimer's Disease mouse model, according to Medical News Today.

The new study, published in the journal Science, examined previously published outcomes on the drug bexarotenefor use in cutaneous T cell lymphoma, using mice as test subjects. Researchers found that the drug significantly seems to improve cognitive deficits in mice with gene mutations associated with human Alzheimer's, though they could not verify the drug's effect on amyloid plaques.

Amyloid plaques are made up of toxic protein fragments, known to damage neurons in the brain and believed to result in the memory problems of Alzheimer's, and eventually death.

"We believe these findings make a solid case for continued exploration of bexarotene as a therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's disease," said senior author Rada Koldamova, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Pitt Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.

The mice that Dr. Koladmova and her team studied expressed the human gene Apolopoprotein E4 (APOE4), the only known genetic risk factor for ate-onset Alzheimer's, or the gene APOE3, known not to raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease. During their time researching, a Case Western Reserve University study was published last year on the topic.

The Cast Western study claimed that the drug "bexarotene elevates memory and rapidly cleared amyloid plaques from the brains of Alzheimer's model mice expressing mouse Apolipoprotein E (APOE)."

"We were already set up to repeat the Case Western Reserve University study to see if we could independently arrive at the same findings," said co-author Iliya Lefterov, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Pitt Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. "While we were able to verify that the mice quickly regained their lost cognitive skills and confirmed the decrease in amyloid beta peptides in the interstitial fluid that surrounds brain cells, we did not find any evidence that the drug cleared the plaques from their brains."

The anti-cancer drug bexarotene triggers Retinoic X Receptors (RXR) found all over the body including neurons and other brain cells, and once activated, controls the expression of genes that may guide different biological functions in the body.

Bexarotene had no impact on the weight or general behavior of the mice, which underwent a spatial reasoning test to test their memories, and both male and female mice showed success when taking the drug.