In a significant breakthrough, US researchers have found in animal studies that Alzheimer’s disease can be reversed, challenging a long-held belief that the neurodegenerative disorder is irreversible.
The study, published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, was based on diverse preclinical mouse models and human Alzheimer’s brain samples. It showed that maintaining proper NAD+ balance in the brain can not only prevent but also reverse the disease.
NAD+ is a key cellular energy molecule and plays a central role in the progression of Alzheimer’s. The researchers found that NAD+ levels decline sharply in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, a pattern also observed in mouse models of the disease.
“We were very excited and encouraged by our results,” said Andrew A. Pieper, senior author of the study and Director of the Brain Health Medicines Center at the Harrington Discovery Institute, University Hospitals.
“Restoring the brain’s energy balance achieved both pathological and functional recovery in mice with advanced Alzheimer’s. Observing this effect in two very different animal models, driven by distinct genetic causes, strengthens the idea that restoring NAD+ balance may help patients recover from Alzheimer’s,” he added.
The research involved mice engineered to carry genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer’s in humans. One model carried multiple human mutations affecting amyloid processing, while the other carried a human mutation in the tau protein.
After confirming a significant decline in brain NAD+ levels in both human and mouse Alzheimer’s samples, the researchers tested whether preventing this decline before disease onset or restoring NAD+ levels after disease progression could halt or reverse the condition.
NAD+ balance was restored using a well-characterised pharmacological agent known as P7C3-A20.
Remarkably, maintaining NAD+ levels protected mice from developing Alzheimer’s, while delayed treatment in mice with advanced disease reversed major pathological changes caused by genetic mutations. In both models, the mice also showed full recovery of cognitive function.
–IANS
