Cheap anti-HIV drug could reduce risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases, study finds

According to the researchers, a drug developed to fight HIV could help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in a person.

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Experiments conducted by Brown University have shown that lamivudine, an inexpensive anti-HIV drug used since 1995, may help reduce the inflammation caused by aging.

As part of this study, scientists administered the drug to mice aged 26 months (about the equivalent of 75 years old) and discovered that it reduced inflammation. Mice aged 20 months who received the drug for six months saw less fat, muscle loss and kidney scarring.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, come from a research project conducted in collaboration with researchers from Brown University, the University of New York, the University of Rochester , the University of Montreal, the Medical School of the University of Virginia and the Medical Center of the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.

The researchers noted that lamivudine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1995 and was a known and safe drug with "virtually no" side effects.

John Sedivy, a professor of medical science and biology at Brown, said the findings could be extended to other age-related diseases, such as "type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration , arthritis, etc. "

Sedivy said that he wanted to start human trials. "It's our goal."

Lamivudine targets inflammation by fighting retrotransposons. Retrotransposons, DNA sequences that can replicate and move to other locations, are "responsible for tiny DNA changes that trigger the disease," according to the Daily Mail.

The body can control these changes when it's young, say the researchers, but not as easily as a person ages. Lamivudine interferes with the activity of retrotransposons, which prevents inflammation from occurring in response to aging.

The link between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease has been of interest to scientists for a few years, said Dr. James Ellison.

"(Anti-inflammatory drugs) might be useful as preventative agents, but they would actually be hurtful if they would be used later in the course of (Alzheimer's disease), when their anti-inflammatory effects could interfere with body's protective response, "said Ellison.

Ellison also stated that future areas of investigation focused on the link between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease are:

• Management of "chronic inflammatory conditions"
• Study how the body's immune system interacts with Alzheimer's syndrome.
• Determine the mix of drugs to reduce plaque and conditions that cause Alzheimer's disease

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