A New Study Recommends Diabetes Mellitus Drugs Could Slow Alzheimer’s Progression

A brand-new study released in the journal Neurology reports an association between a particular substance class to deal with type 2 diabetes and lowered Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. It is unclear exactly just how these diabetes mellitus medicines might cause neuroprotective effects, but Alzheimer’s experts are calling for massive clinical trials to explore these possible treatments in non-diabetic groups.

For a long time, researchers have observed greater rates of dementia in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Earlier his year, UK research suggested hypertension could be the causal connection between diabetes mellitus and dementia, yet it is still uncertain what links the two problems.

Along with this association between diabetes mellitus and dementia, there have been increasingly observations of strangely low rates of neurodegenerative illness in diabetic people taking anti-diabetic medications. An Australian observational research study in 2015 saw substantially slower rates of cognitive decline in older diabetic clients taking a drug called metformin, contrasted to rates of decline seen in non-diabetic individuals not taking the medication.

This new study focused on a specific class of diabetes mellitus medications called dipeptidyl peptidase four preventions (DPP-4i), also referred to as gliptins. Using retrospective data, the scientists compared brain scans and cognitive examination results from 70 diabetic people taking DPP-4i compared to 71 diabetic person patients not taking DPP-4i and 141 non-diabetic individuals. The entire group had an average age of 76, and all showed very early indications of Alzheimer’s disease based upon cognitive tests and PET scans.

All subjects were monitored for approximately six years to gauge a decrease in time, and cognitive scores were similar in all groups at the start of the research study. At the end of the study period, those diabetic patients on DPP-4i medication revealed significantly slower cognitive decline rates than the other groups.

Using a standard cognitive examination called the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), the researchers saw diabetic patients on DPP-4i medicines reveal a yearly rating decrease of 0.87 points. In comparison, the diabetic people not on DPP-4i medications presented annual decreases on the MMSE of 1.65 points, and those without diabetes decreased each year by 1.48 points.

Considering the primary biomarker of Alzheimer’s condition, amyloid protein accumulation in the brain, the research showed that those taking DPP-4i medicines had reduced average levels than other diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

” Individuals with diabetes have been shown to have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s illness, possibly because of high blood sugar levels, which have been associated with the build-up of amyloid-beta in the brain,” states Phil Hyu Lee, one of the scientists involved in the project. “Not only did our research show that people taking dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors to reduced blood sugar level degrees had much less amyloid in their minds overall, it additionally revealed lower levels in areas of the brain associated with the Alzheimer’s condition.”

The big question this brand-new research cannot address is whether DPP-4i medicines have direct neuroprotective properties that could be useful in protecting against cognitive decline in non-diabetic subjects. James Connell, a scientist collaborating with Alzheimer’s Research study in the UK, claims there is a critical need to explore all possible treatment choices for mental dementia.

“Diabetes is a relevant risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, yet we do not fully understand just how the two diseases are connected,” states Connell, who was not involved with this new study. “Alzheimer’s Research study UK scientists are also investigating various other potential diabetes medications as well as whether they can have benefit for those with dementia. Inevitably, we will require to see the results of these studies and of large-scale clinical trials to understand whether this approach could be beneficial fully.”

Originally published on Newatlas.com. Read the original article.

Source: American Academy of Neurology