Northwestern study: 1 drug might fight Alzheimer’s, other brain conditions

By MONIFA J. THOMAS Health Reporter mjthomas@suntimes.com July 24, 2012 4:46PM

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Updated: July 24, 2012 9:37PM

A new class of drug shows promise it might one day offer a new form of treatment for Alzheimers disease, as well as helping fight multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury, researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the University of Kentucky reported Tuesday.

In tests on mice, the experimental drugs reduced inflammation in the brain. Such neuroinflammation is believed to play a key role in the progressive damage involved in Alzheimers and the other neurological conditions, as well as in stroke.

Reporting in the Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers said they found that that one of the experimental drugs, known as MW151, significantly slowed the effects of Alzheimers disease in mice that were genetically engineered to develop the disease when given orally three times a week beginning at six months of age.

The mouse study was designed to be comparable to when a human patient would begin to develop mild cognitive impairment, an early sign of Alzheimers.

The finding is noteworthy because it offers a different approach to treat Alzheimers than others being tested that focus on the development of beta amyloid plaques in the brain that have been linked to the disease, though their role isnt clear, said lead author D. Martin Watterson, a drug discovery researcher and professor of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry at Northwestern.

This class of drugsalters the opportunity to start treating [Alzheimers] earlier, therefore slowing down the progression, said.Watterson, whose lab developed the drug and who is a co-author of the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Health Assistance Foundation, the Alzheimers Association and the Kleberg Foundation.

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Northwestern study: 1 drug might fight Alzheimer’s, other brain conditions