Yale: Memory and as well as connections between brain cells were restored
in mice with a model of Alzheimer’s given an experimental cancer drug,
Yale School of Medicine researchers reported in the journal Annals of
Neurology. The drug, AZD05030, developed by Astra Zeneca proved
disappointing in treating solid tumors but appears to block damage
triggered during the formation of amyloid-beta plaques, a hallmark of
Alzheimer’s disease. The new study, funded by an innovative National
Institutes of Health (NIH) program to test failed drugs on different
diseases, has led to the launch of human trials to test the efficacy of
AZD05030 in Alzheimer’s patients.
“With this treatment, cells
under bombardment by beta amyloid plaques show restored synaptic
connections and reduced inflammation, and the animal’s memory, which was
lost during the course of the disease, comes back,” said Stephen M.
Strittmatter, the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and senior
author of the study.
In the last five years, scientists have
developed a more complete understanding of the complex chain of events
that leads to Alzheimer’s disease. The new drug blocks one of those
molecular steps, activation of the enzyme FYN, which leads to the loss
of synaptic connections between brain cells. Several other steps in the
disease process have the potential to be targets for new drugs,
Strittmatter said.
“The speed with which this compound moved to
human trials validates our New Therapeutic Uses program model and serves
our mission to deliver more treatments to more patients more quickly,”
said Dr. Christopher P. Austin, director of NIH’s National Center for
Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), which funded the work.
Yale's
Christopher H. van Dyck, a co-author of the paper, and Strittmatter
have initiated a multi-site clinical trial to determine whether the drug
can also benefit Alzheimer's patients. For more information on this
trial being directed by van Dyck, visit http://www.adcs.org/studies/Connect.aspx or https://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02167256 and NCT01864655).
The
study was funded by the NCATS and the NIH Common Fund, through the
Office of Strategic Coordination/Office of the NIH Director