There was exciting news in April (2017) in the fight against Dementia1.
Prion disorders, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and dementia, can be the cause of brain cell death. A research team, from the Medical Research Council's Toxicology Unit in Leicester and Cambridge University, has identified that two existing medicines - one a licensed antidepressant and the other an anti-cancer compound - can restore protein production in the brains of laboratory mice. The drugs concerned were the antidepressant trazodone hydrochloride, and the anti-cancer drug dibenzoylmethane (DBN). These drugs were found to block an important pathway linked to brain cell death, caused by prion disorders. As a consequence the drugs could help slow down the effects of dementia.
Professor Giovanna Mallucci
The research team leader, Professor Giovanna Mallucci, said: "We know that trazodone is safe to use in humans, so a clinical trial is now possible. We could know in two to three years whether this approach can slow down disease progression, which would be a very exciting first step in treating these disorders. Interestingly, trazodone has been used to treat the symptoms of patients in later stages of dementia, so we know it is safe for this group. We now need to find out whether giving the drug to patients at an early stage could help arrest or slow down the disease through its effects on this pathway."
But whilst the results could represent a significant step forward, they do not represent a cure. They represent a means of possibly halting these diseases in their tracks. The advantage of using trazodone, in particular, is its existing licence for use in elderly patients, which means that the necessary clinical trials can be progressed more quickly than might otherwise be the case. But, of course, what might be true in mice (and other animals) may not always hold true in people! Nevertheless, these findings are very exciting and GBoomer will look forward to developments as they unfold.
The research team leader, Professor Giovanna Mallucci, said: "We know that trazodone is safe to use in humans, so a clinical trial is now possible. We could know in two to three years whether this approach can slow down disease progression, which would be a very exciting first step in treating these disorders. Interestingly, trazodone has been used to treat the symptoms of patients in later stages of dementia, so we know it is safe for this group. We now need to find out whether giving the drug to patients at an early stage could help arrest or slow down the disease through its effects on this pathway."
But whilst the results could represent a significant step forward, they do not represent a cure. They represent a means of possibly halting these diseases in their tracks. The advantage of using trazodone, in particular, is its existing licence for use in elderly patients, which means that the necessary clinical trials can be progressed more quickly than might otherwise be the case. But, of course, what might be true in mice (and other animals) may not always hold true in people! Nevertheless, these findings are very exciting and GBoomer will look forward to developments as they unfold.
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