Drug discovery gives hope to halting progression of Alzheimer's disease
Edaravone alleviated Alzheimer’s pathologies at multiple levels and improved learning and memory functions in mice
A drug used to treat stroke victims in certain Asian countries could help stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease according to new research.
Scientists from the University of South Australia, with colleagues from Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, have discovered that Edaravone can alleviate the progressive cognitive deficits of Alzheimer’s disease. The drug is used to aid neurological recovery following acute brain ischemia and subsequent cerebral infarction.
The discovery has been published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Lead researcher Xin-Fu Zhou, Research Chair in Neurosciences at the University of South Australia, said Edaravone alleviated Alzheimer’s disease pathologies at multiple levels and improved learning and memory functions in mice.
'Edaravone can bind the toxic amyloid peptide which is a major factor leading to degeneration of nerve cells,' he said. 'It is a free radical scavenger which suppresses oxidative stress that is a main cause of brain degeneration.'
Zhou said lessons learned from failures of current clinical trials suggest that targeting multiple key pathways of the Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis is necessary to halt and delay its progression.
'The drug also inhibits the Tau hyperphosphorylation which can generate tangles accumulated in the brain cells and disrupt brain functions,' he added.
Zhou said although he did not believe that Alzheimer’s disease could ever be cured, the drug was the best hope of attacking the disease through multiple signal pathways.
The next phase of the research is to seek funding and investment to develop an oral formulae before undertaking clinical trials.
