An anti-aging drug may help protect the brain before Alzheimer's symptoms begin
A surprising new study suggests that an anti-aging drug could help protect people genetically predisposed to Alzheimer's disease. Researchers found that just four weeks of low-dose rapamycin improved brain blood flow in healthy middle-aged adults carrying the high-risk APOE4 gene variant, with women showing the strongest benefits. Because declining blood flow can occur years before Alzheimer's symptoms appear, the…
Key points
- Rapamycin improved brain blood flow in middle-aged adults carrying the APOE4 gene variant linked to Alzheimer's risk.
- Women with APOE4 saw the largest improvements, a group that makes up nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer's patients.
- The four-week trial did not establish whether the drug prevents Alzheimer's or preserves memory over time.
A drug used to prevent organ transplant rejection may offer a new way to protect people at higher risk of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at the University of Missouri have found. In a small study, rapamycin improved blood flow in the brains of middle-aged adults who carry APOE4, a gene variant linked to a substantially increased risk of Alzheimer's later in life.
The study was led by Ai-Ling Lin, a professor in the university's School of Medicine and an investigator at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building. Her work focuses on brain changes that occur before Alzheimer's symptoms appear.
How the study was run
Healthy adults aged 45 to 65, some carrying APOE4 and some not, received a low daily dose of rapamycin for four weeks. Brain blood flow improved in the APOE4 carriers but not in participants without the variant.
Lin said earlier mouse experiments had shown rapamycin could slow brain aging and increase blood flow in animals carrying APOE4, prompting the question of whether people would see similar benefits.
If we can slow down aging in the brain for those people most at risk, maybe we can reduce the risk of them developing Alzheimer's disease.
— Ai-Ling Lin
Women saw the greatest benefit
Women carrying APOE4 experienced the largest improvements in brain blood flow. Lin noted that nearly two-thirds of people with Alzheimer's are women.
The study did not establish whether the treatment could prevent Alzheimer's or preserve memory over time. Lin said the findings are an example of precision medicine, as researchers work to identify who can benefit most from the drug.
