What if aspirin treated certain aspects of Alzheimer's disease?

New research suggests that aspirin, one of the most widely used drugs in the world, may help treat some aspects of Alzheimer's disease.

One of the causes of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of senile plaques – or amyloid plaques – between neurons. Researchers say today they discovered that aspirin could prevent their accumulation. This was the case, at least, in the mouse. Recent experiments on rodents have shown that aspirin improves the ability of lysosomes, which are sort of waste processors and recyclers, to eliminate amyloid plaque or prevent it from forming. Researchers believe that aspirin can have the same effect on men, who publish their results in The Journal of Neuroscience .

Recall that there is as yet no cure for Alzheimer's disease, and the drugs have had a very limited success in slowing the progression of the disease. Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is a cheap medicine that has been proven for a century in low doses. A meta-badysis published in March 2018 by Chinese researchers in the review Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience had also examined 18 population-level studies, and found that regular use of nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – including aspirin – was badociated with approximately 20% less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Based on the possible link between this substance and the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. American researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago administered aspirin to mice and cells grown in the laboratory. Both approaches, in vivo and in vitro, seem to "prevent or reverse the biological signs of Alzheimer's disease" said Kalipada Pahan, lead author of the study. Aspirin would activate a cellular receptor called PPARα, which in turn would regulate a protein called TFEB. The latter would serve as the main regulator of lysosome activity. In short, aspirin would help cells eliminate cell debris, including the proteins that form amyloid plaque.

"We expect to see similar results in human brain cells" notes the research team. It should be noted that aspirin has some risks when used daily. It could also stimulate the activity of lysosomes if – and only if – the cell receptor PPARa is present. So any person suffering from the disease who does not have a sufficient number of these receptors would not benefit from the so-called "powers" of aspirin.

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