Cancer drug could ward off Alzheimer’s, claims study

A drug used to treat cancer may also limit the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study conducted in mice has found.

Scientists from University of California (UCI) in the US used the drug to disarm the brain’s response to the distinctive beta-amyloid plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

They found that flushing away the abundant inflammatory cells produced in reaction to beta-amyloid plaques restored memory function in test mice.

The study showed that these cells, called microglia, contribute to the neuronal and memory deficits seen in this neurodegenerative disease.

“Our findings demonstrate the critical role that inflammation plays in Alzheimer’s-related memory and cognitive losses,” said Kim Green from UCI.

Researchers treated Alzheimer’s disease model mice with a small-molecule inhibitor compound called pexidartinib, or PLX3397, which is currently being used in several phase 2 oncology studies and a phase 3 clinical trial to treat a benign neoplasm of the joints.