A Human-Safe Drug Reduces Multiple Signs of Alzheimer's in Mice
Researchers have identified a drug, KCL-286, that shows promise in reducing signs of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models. Because the drug has already passed initial human safety trials for other conditions, it could potentially move to clinical testing for Alzheimer's much faster than typical new treatments.
Why it matters
Repurposing existing, safety-tested drugs could significantly accelerate the development of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
Add ScienceAlert on Google Sticky protein clumps clog up brain cells in Alzheimer's disease. (Sciepro/Science Photo Library/Getty Images) Early in the progression of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, DNA inside neurons starts showing signs of weakness.
Double-strand breaks – in which both 'legs' of the DNA ladder are snapped at the same point – are a serious problem , that can either cause a cell to die, or go rogue.
In neurons, these breaks occur at far higher rates in people with Alzheimer's disease than they do in the general population, suggesting they may be contributing to symptoms of the disease.
Scientists have only recently begun to investigate how DNA breaks and inflammation contribute to Alzheimer's.
A study published in 2022, for instance, used a mouse model of Alzheimer's to show that neurons with double-stranded breaks can set off an immune response in the brain that inflames microglia.
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