Alzheimer’s disease could be avoided by the antiviral medication that is already in the market

According to researchers, an existing medication for HIV could double as a preventive therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Nrti (inverse nucleoside transcriptase inhibitors) are antivirals that are approved to treat HIV infection, but grape health scientists at the University of Virginia found that the patients who took them were less likely to develop the common form of dementia.

There was an annual reduction of approximately 10% in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in people who take Nrti for each year of use of these drugs, according to the main author of the Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, MD study, professor of ophthalmology at UVA, who hid News Digital about the finding.

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After finding another mechanism that could prevent Alzheimer’s, the researchers analyzed 24 years of health insurance data, including 270,000 patients.

The reduction of Alzheimer’s risk among patients who take NTTI was “significant and substantial,” the researchers wrote in the findings, which were published in the Alzheimer’s & Dementia magazine.

Now, the UVA team is asking for Nrti clinical trials to measure its use to treat Alzheimer’s.

Approximately 10 million people around the world are diagnosed with common dementia every year.

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“This level of protection could be translated into 60,000 less cases of Alzheimer’s disease every year in our country, and up to one million less cases every year worldwide,” Ambati told News Digital.

In addition to preventing the HIV Replice virus, NRTI to also prevent the activation of inflammasomes, proteins that are involved in Alzheimer’s development.

“We had previously shown that the NTTI blocked inflammasoma, so it was not entirely surprising that people who take NTTI could protect against this disease,” said Ambati.

“However, the degree of protection against Alzheimer’s was quite surprising.”

“It is very possible that this medicine is useful in Alzheimer’s prevention.”

Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of Medicine at Nyu Langone Health and Senior Medical Analyst of News, did not participate in the study, but commented on the findings.

“Inflamasomas are complex of intracellular proteins that trigger the release of inflammatory cytokines,” he told News Digital. “HIV uses these inflammasomas to combat the immune system.”

“It is likely that these chemicals are responsible for worsening Alzheimer’s worst, or accelerating the cognitive deterioration process based on neuroinflammation.”

Rebecca Edelmeyer, Ph.D., vice president of scientific participation in the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago, also reviewed the study findings, which he called “interesting.”

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“More research and clinical trials are needed specifically to completely understand Nrti’s potential future use to reduce Alzheimer’s risk, but the study highlights the potential role that the reuse of medications can perform in the progress of Alzheimer’s new treatments,” said News Digital.

The reuse of existing medications can offer a “promising route”, according to Edelmayer. As the safety and side effects of existing medications are often known, studies can be faster and less expensive than with new treatments, he added.

Possible limitations and next steps

The research team recognized some study limitations.

“Like all studies of retrospective health insurance databases, the findings of our study are an association between this kind of medicines and the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” Ambati told News Digital.

“They do not necessarily provide a cause and effect; however, the fact that we find this link in multiple databases increases confidence in this result.”

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Siegel agreed that the new study is observational, but pointed out that it takes place for many years.

“It also shows that only this particular medication of HIV, flammage, drastically decreases the risk of Alzheimer’s, not other HIV medications, including protease inhibitors,” said the doctor.

“I think this is convincing preliminary evidence that guarantees an additional study,” Siegel added. “It is very possible that this drug is useful in the prevention of Alzheimer’s, given the growing evidence that implies immune deregulation and inflammation as causes of AD.”

Looking towards the future, researchers have developed a new medication called K9. Like Nrti, the new medicine blocks inflammasomes, but is “safer and more effective,” according to Ambati.

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“The fact that the new medicine reversed memory loss and the best spatial learning in mice further increases confidence in our findings,” Digital’s News told News.

The grape team now plans to try K9 in clinical trials for Azheimer.

Ambati pointed out that people should not take Nrti for Alzheimer’s prevention unless they are in the context of a clinical trial.

“If they are interested, they must be attentive to such evidence for them or loved ones that can be affected,” he advised.

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Almost seven million people in the United States currently live with Alzheimer’s, and the number is expected to reach 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s association.

The UVA study was partly funded by the Strategic UVA Investment Fund and the National Health Institutes.