An Alzheimers patient is seen at Tongde Hospital on November 12, 2020 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by Chen Zhongqiu/VCG via Getty Images)
A drug commonly used to prevent organ transplant rejection increased blood flow in the brains of healthy middle-aged adults who carry a genetic variant linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new University of Missouri study.
Why you should care:
The findings could help researchers identify ways to delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease in people who are genetically predisposed to developing the condition.
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Dig deeper:
The study was led by Ai-Ling Lin, a University of Missouri School of Medicine professor and researcher at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building. Her research focuses on people who carry the APOE4 gene variant, which is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.
People with APOE4 can experience reduced blood flow to certain areas of the brain years before memory problems appear. That makes diminished cerebral blood flow a potential early indicator of Alzheimer’s risk.
For the study, adults ages 45 to 65 who carried APOE4, as well as participants without the variant, took a low dose of rapamycin daily for four weeks. None of the participants had developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lin found that the drug improved blood flow in the brains of participants who carried APOE4, while those without the gene variant did not experience the same benefit.
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What they're saying:
"Alzheimer’s tends to happen more in older people, especially for those with APOE4," Lin said. "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."
The researchers also found that women with APOE4 experienced the greatest improvement in cerebral blood flow. Nearly two-thirds of people with Alzheimer’s disease are women, according to Lin.
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"This research is an example of precision medicine, as we work to identify who can benefit from this drug the most," she said.
Rapamycin is typically prescribed to help prevent organ rejection following transplants and to treat certain rare diseases. Before joining the University of Missouri, Lin studied the drug’s effects in mice and found that it could slow brain aging and improve blood flow in animals with APOE4.
What's next:
The researchers said the latest findings suggest rapamycin may have potential benefits for people at elevated genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, though the study was a small pilot trial and more research is needed.
The study, titled "Rapamycin increases cerebral blood flow and modulates metabolic, inflammatory, and microbiome profiles in healthy middle-aged APOE4 carriers: a pilot single-arm trial," was published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
The Source: The information in this story came from a University of Missouri news release about a study led by Ai-Ling Lin, a professor at the university’s School of Medicine. This story was reported from Los Angeles.