A drug commonly used to prevent organ transplant rejection may offer an unexpected new approach to protecting people at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered that rapamycin, a medication also studied for its effects on aging, can improve blood flow in the brains of middle-aged adults who carry a gene variant linked to Alzheimer's. The findings could help scientists develop strategies to address Alzheimer's risk long before memory problems appear.
The research also adds to the University of Missouri's growing contributions to understanding and potentially preventing the most common form of dementia. The study was led by Ai-Ling Lin, a professor in the university's School of Medicine and an investigator at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building. Her work focuses on identifying changes in the brain that occur before Alzheimer's symptoms develop and finding ways to intervene early.
Why Brain Blood Flow Matters for Alzheimer's Risk A major focus of Lin's research is the APOE4 gene variant, which is associated with a substantially increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life. People who carry APOE4 can experience reduced blood flow in certain areas of the brain years before they begin having noticeable memory difficulties. Because these circulation changes can occur so early, researchers believe they could provide an important warning sign of increased Alzheimer's risk.
Lin's latest findings suggest that improving brain circulation with an existing medication may be one way to address these early changes. "Alzheimer's tends to happen more in older people, especially for those with APOE4," Lin said. "If we can slow down aging in the brain for those people most at risk, maybe we can reduce the risk of them developing Alzheimer's disease." Rapamycin is already used in medicine to prevent the immune system from rejecting transplanted organs and to treat certain rare conditions.
However, researchers have also been investigating its potential to slow biological aging and protect the brain. Before joining the University of Missouri, Lin conducted experiments involving mice that carried APOE4. Her earlier research showed that rapamycin could slow brain aging and increase blood flow in these animals.
Those results prompted an important question: Could rapamycin produce similar benefits in people who have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's but have not yet developed the disease? To investigate, Lin studied healthy adults between the ages of 45 and 65, including people who carried APOE4 and others who did not. All participants received a low daily dose of rapamycin for four weeks.
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