A Korean research team found a clue that a drug used to treat breast cancer is also effective for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Korea Brain Research Institute (President Pangil Suh) announced on the 21st that a research team led by Hyang-Sook Huh, a senior researcher in the Degenerative Brain Disease Research Group, found that the drug ‘abemacicli mesylate’, which is used as a treatment for breast cancer, is also effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease.
The research team found that abemasilclip controls CDK4/6, a gene involved in cell cycle regulation. This is a case of identifying that abemasilclip is a multi-target drug (reduction of amyloid plaques, inhibition of tau lesions, inhibition of brain inflammation and improvement of memory) aimed at treating Alzheimer’s disease.
The research team confirmed that the formation of dendrites in neurons was promoted and short-term memory and recognition memory were restored in an Alzheimer’s disease animal model injected with this drug. They also found that brain inflammation, amyloidopathy, and tauopathy were suppressed by regulating the expression of specific genes in dementia animal models that overexpressed amyloid or tau related to Alzheimer’s disease.
The research team revealed that abemaciclib inhibits the ‘DYRK1A/STAT3’ signaling system when controlling the hyperactivity of glial cells induced by drugs such as amyloid beta. This soon suppressed the expression of cytokines that cause brain inflammation.
Previous studies have shown that CDK4 gene expression is increased in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients compared to normal people, and CDK4/6 gene control regulates peripheral inflammation. However, this is the first study of the correlation between the drug abemaciclib and Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Heo Hyang-sook said, “This study confirms the possibility that abemaciclib, an anticancer drug, can also be used as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, a representative degenerative brain disease.” said.
This study, in which researcher Lee Hyun-joo participated as the first author, was published on the 11th in the online edition of the international journal ‘Pharmacological Research (IF: 10.334)’.
[참고자료]
Paper title: Inhibition of CDK4/6 regulates AD pathology, neuroinflammation and cognitive function through DYRK1A/STAT3 signaling
Authors: Hyunjoo Lee (first author), Hyangsuk Huh (corresponding author).
Send SNS articles