HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Dec. 6, 2021 (HealthDay Information) — Viagra, a drug lengthy used to deal with erectile dysfunction, could double as a possible weapon towards Alzheimer’s disease, a brand new examine suggests.
Taking a look at knowledge on greater than 7 million Individuals, researchers discovered that these taking the drug have been 69% much less more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, when in comparison with non-users.
Then, in lab experiments, the investigators confirmed that the medicine appeared to focus on a part of the underlying illness course of in Alzheimer’s.
Nonetheless, the findings mustn’t ship anybody operating to the physician for a Viagra prescription, the researchers cautioned.
However they do argue for clinical trials to check the drug towards Alzheimer’s, stated senior researcher Feixiong Cheng, of Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Drugs Institute.
Viagra, bought generically as sildenafil, was authorised over 20 years in the past for treating erectile dysfunction. Sildenafil was later authorised beneath a distinct model title (Revatio) for pulmonary hypertension, a type of high blood pressure affecting the lungs.
The drug works by inhibiting a protein referred to as phosphodiesterase-5, which in flip permits blood vessels to loosen up and widen, bettering blood move.
However phosphodiesterases additionally exist within the mind, Cheng stated. And up to date lab analysis has advised sildenafil could inhibit the irregular protein buildup that may be a hallmark of Alzheimer’s illness. In lab mice engineered to have an Alzheimer’s-like situation, sildenafil has proven motion towards these proteins, and boosted reminiscence and brain-cell formation.
The brand new findings, revealed on-line Dec. 6 within the journal Nature Getting old, bolster the case for learning the drug as an Alzheimer’s therapy, Cheng stated.
If that occurs, sildenafil would be part of a rising listing of authorised medication that researchers hope to “repurpose” as therapies for Alzheimer’s.
Drugs for situations starting from diabetes to hypertension to cancer are already being investigated for that very goal, stated Dr. Howard Fillit, founding govt director of the nonprofit Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Basis.
The inspiration was amongst a number of funders of the present examine, the first one being the U.S. Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Fillit agreed that the findings ought to assist transfer sildenafil into Alzheimer’s trials. Finally, he stated, everybody believes it would take a number of approaches, and mixtures of medicines, to battle a illness as advanced as Alzheimer’s.
“We’ll want a number of therapies to focus on the totally different ways in which issues go unsuitable within the mind in Alzheimer’s,” Fillit defined.
Repurposing authorised medicines has apparent benefits over ranging from scratch to develop new therapies. Accredited medication have a identified security observe document, and they are often delivered to trials comparatively shortly, with much less expense.
In fact, Fillit stated, there needs to be a rationale for selecting which medication to repurpose.
For the most recent examine, Cheng’s workforce began with the premise that medication affecting two proteins — amyloid and tau — would have the best potential towards Alzheimer’s. The illness is marked by an irregular clumping of these proteins within the mind, generally often known as plaques and tangles.
Analysis has proven, Cheng stated, that the interplay between amyloid and tau is extra essential than both alone within the Alzheimer’s course of.
His workforce screened over 1,600 authorised medicines, utilizing genetic and different organic knowledge, and ultimately landed on sildenafil as one of the best candidate as a doable Alzheimer’s remedy.
Subsequent they used medical health insurance claims from over 7 million Individuals to see whether or not sildenafil customers have been at decrease threat of Alzheimer’s. And on common, they have been 69% much less more likely to be recognized with the mind illness over six years, versus non-users.
The decreased threat was seen amongst individuals with coronary heart illness, hypertension or diabetes — all threat components for dementia — in addition to individuals with out these situations, Cheng stated.
Sildenafil customers even had a decrease Alzheimer’s threat when put next towards individuals on the blood stress drug losartan or the diabetes medicine metformin — each at the moment beneath examine for battling dementia.
Lastly, in experiments with cells taken from Alzheimer’s sufferers, the researchers discovered that sildenafil appeared to inhibit tau and help mind cell development.
“This helps the conduct of a medical trial, after which we’ll have a solution,” Fillit stated. “We can’t know till we now have trials.”
And though most present sildenafil customers are males, these trials ought to embody each sexes, Cheng’s workforce identified.
For now, Fillit stated individuals may help defend their mind well being by means of life-style selections, together with common train, consuming a nutritious diet, not smoking and getting situations similar to hypertension and diabetes beneath management.
“That is good not solely in your coronary heart, however your mind, as properly,” he stated.
Extra data
The Alzheimer’s Affiliation has extra on Alzheimer’s risk reduction.
SOURCES: Feixiong Cheng, PhD, assistant employees, Genomic Drugs Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio; Howard Fillit, MD, founding govt director, chief science officer, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Basis, New York Metropolis; Nature Getting old, Dec. 6, 2021, on-line
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