Scottish scientists find diabetes drug can halt Alzheimer's

A DRUG used to combat the effects of diabetes could hold the key to the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease, according to Scottish scientists.

Researchers at Dundee University and a team of international collaborators have discovered that metformin, a drug commonly used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, can help treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) and prevent it in healthy people.

They have shown the drug "significantly activates" a key protein which can prevent cell death in the brains of AD patients. They are now seeking funding for pre-clinical trials, in what is being hailed as a "potentially exciting breakthrough" in the treatment of a disease that affects some 400,000 people in the UK alone.

The research was led by Susann Schweiger, professor of molecular medicine at Dundee University's Division of Medical Sciences, who said the idea of exploring metformin as a possible means of treating and preventing Alzheimer's had come to her "out of the blue" as she was cycling to work.

She said it had long been known that sugar metabolism was a critical factor in the development of AD, and that patients with diabetes had a higher risk of contracting the disease than those who were non-diabetic.

Prof Schweiger said: "I knew about the effects that metformin had in type 2 diabetes. I was cycling to work one day and it occurred to me that if metformin can work in type 2 diabetes and given its mode of function, then it should also have beneficial effects in Alzheimer's disease.

"I was able to put together an excellent team here in Dundee, as well as working with international colleagues, and our results strongly suggest that, not only in type 2 diabetes patients but also in healthy people, metformin would have a brain-protective effect and that, if given in an early stage, would be a promising medication in the treatment of Alzheimer's."

She went on: "The implications of this research are that, because metformin is already often used in clinical practice, it could go into a clinical trial with Alzheimer's patients soon.

"We have shown how the drug works in the brain and the pathology, we would assume, is the same in people who are not diabetic but who have developed Alzheimer's.

"We would envisage this treatment being used after an early-stage diagnosis of Alzheimer's. We are not expecting to revive cells that are already dead but to protect those not yet damaged by the progression of Alzheimer's."

Prof Schweiger said the research team planned to apply for funding for a large, pre-clinical trial to explore the biochemical processes involved and see how metformin affects the brain.

Dr Anne Corbett, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Previous research has suggested that metformin reduces the risk of dementia in diabetic people, and this study provides some understanding of why this might be.The fact that the drug is safe for humans means it could potentially be tested more quickly than a completely new drug."