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.
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.
Source: ScienceDaily - Neuroscience — Read the full article on the original site ↗