Cancer Drug Shows Promise For Alzheimer's

(NewsCore) - A cancer drug quickly and dramatically improved mental function and social ability and restored the sense of smell in mice bred with a form of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting a new way to tackle the illness in people.

Alzheimer's disease is associated with the accumulation of protein fragments called amyloid-beta in the brain. The new research shows that a skin cancer drug called bexarotene cleared the protein in the brains of stricken mice within days. The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Because bexarotene is known to be safe for the treatment of skin cancer, "it might be worth trying in Alzheimer's patients as well," said Rada Koldamova, a neuroscientist who works on Alzheimer's at the University of Pittsburgh and who was not part of the study.

However, she added, the drug's effectiveness against the brain malady would first have to be established in human trials. Test results in mice often do not pan out in humans.

Everyone's brain produces amyloid-beta protein, but while a healthy brain can efficiently remove the protein fragments, the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease cannot. The resulting buildup is believed to result in the impaired learning and memory functions seen in Alzheimer's patients.

The disease is a growing problem, especially in aging societies, but an effective treatment has eluded researchers. The drugs used today work for a short time and only relieve symptoms, instead of halting the disease. Over the years, drugs in about a half-dozen late-stage human trials have failed to make the cut.

In 2010, Eli Lilly & Co. abandoned a treatment that blocked an enzyme linked to amyloid formation; the trial was stopped because the medication appeared to worsen some patients' condition. Another technique, currently being tested in patients, is to reduce protein formation by triggering an immune response.

The new research, funded by a number of foundations, takes a completely different approach, said Gary Landreth, a neuroscientist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a co-author of the Science study. His team's method, he said, was to "help Mother Nature do what she normally does" in clearing away amyloid fragments from the brain.

Read more: Wall Street Journal