An experimental model of Alzheimer's disease has been successfully treated with a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug, mefenamic acid. Scientists from the
Around 500,000 people in the
Transgenic mice, created to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, were used with one group of 10 treated with mefenamic acid, 10 treated with a placebo.
Memory loss was completely reversed back to the levels seen in mice without the disease.
Though this is the first time a drug has been shown to target this inflammatory pathway, highlighting its importance in the disease model,
The research, funded by the
He added, "Until now, no drug has been available to target this pathway, so we are very excited by this result. However, much more work needs to be done until we can say with certainty that it will tackle the disease in humans as mouse models don't always faithfully replicate the human disease.
"We are now preparing applications to perform early phase II trials to determine a proof-of-concept that the molecules have an effect on neuroinflammation in humans."
Dr
3 Comments
Sandra Young
Would like to know the name of the paper by Brough so I can access it.