Study: Drug protects against air pollution-related Alzheimer’s signs in mice
Mice that received the drug had lower levels of proteins which make up the telltale plaques seen in brains with Alzheimer’s. Could the medication help humans?
A recent USC study shows that mice fed an experimental drug were protected against air pollution-related increases in proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, suggest that the drug could one day have a role as a preventive measure against Alzheimer’s in people living with air pollution.
Air pollution is correlated with systemic inflammation and promotes the formation of amyloid plaques, the clumps of protein seen between the brain’s nerve cells in Alzheimer’s.
Senior author Caleb Finch, USC University Professor and holder of the ARCO/William F. Kieschnick Chair in the Neurobiology of Aging at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, has studied air pollution’s effects on the brain for several years, especially the consequences of exposure to fine particulates found in pollution from automobiles, factories and more.
Many studies have shown that poor air quality has a sizeable impact on risk of Alzheimer and accelerates cognitive decline, he said.
The latest work from Finch’s lab highlights the potential protection offered by a type of drug called a gamma-secretase modulator, developed by team members at UCSD and Harvard.
The team tested the drug, called GSM-15606, by feeding it to mice over 8 weeks. During that time, the animals were regularly exposed to air pollution in the form of either ambient nanoparticulate matter or diesel exhaust particles.
Following air pollution exposure, mice fed the drug had much less amyloid protein in their brains compared with mice exposed to pollution but not the drug.
“Because gamma secretase is needed for normal functions body-wide, this drug was designed to modulate, but not inhibit, production of Aβ42,” Finch said. “This is the first example of a new drug developed to slow Alzheimer’s that may also protect aging individuals from the environmental risk factor of air pollution.”
In addition to Finch, study authors include Jose A. Godoy-Lugo, Max A. Thorwald, Mafalda Cacciottolo, Carla D’Agostino, Ararat Chakhoyan, and Constantinos Sioutas of USC; Rudolph E. Tanzi of Harvard; and Kevin D. Rynearson of the University of California, San Diego. Lab studies were supported by grants to Finch from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and NIH (R01-AG051521, P01-AG055367).
Source: USC
