Memory in Alzheimer's mouse model revived

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- University of Texas Health Science Center researchers say they have successfully reversed Alzheimer's-like memory deficits in a mouse model of the disease.

The researchers, led by Assistant Professor Salvatore Oddo, said they used rapamycin -- a drug that keeps the immune system from attacking transplanted organs -- in rescuing the learning and memory deficits.

Oddo said the study offers the first evidence the drug might be valuable in treating Alzheimer's patients. Oddo said rapamycin also reduced Alzheimer's-like lesions in the brains of the mice.

"Our findings may have a profound clinical implication," Oddo said. "Because rapamycin is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, a clinical trial using it as an anti-Alzheimer's disease therapy could be started fairly quickly."

Last year three institutions, including the University of Texas' Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, announced rapamycin extended the lifespan of aged research mice. That was the first pharmacologic intervention shown to extend life in an animal model of aging.

Rapamycin, a bacterial product first isolated in soil from the island Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, also is being tested in cancer research studies, scientists said.

"While it remains to be determined whether our results obtained in mice could be translated in people, we are very excited as these findings may lead to a new therapeutic intervention to treat Alzheimer's," Oddo said.

The study is reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.