New Treatments for Alzheimer's on the Horizon

July 16 -- WEDNESDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- New interventions show promise against two different types of brain abnormalities, both of which are implicated in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease.

A drug called Dimebon seems to improve cognitive function in both mice and humans but, new research reveals, it actually increases brain levels of beta amyloid, a protein long thought to be a leading culprit in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Meanwhile, a vaccine has had some effect in reducing the number of tau protein tangles that are also associated with Alzheimer's.

Both studies were to be presented Wednesday at the Alzheimer's Association annual meeting, in Vienna.

Beta amyloid is the main "ingredient" in the amyloid protein plaques that are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Drug companies around the world are racing to find compounds that can reduce brain levels of beta amyloid.

The drug used in this study is dimebolin (Dimebon), described in the research abstract as a "retired Russian antihistamine."

Right now, researchers aren't sure what to do with the findings.

"This is a very surprising and unexpected result," said study author Dr. Samuel Gandy, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "Virtually every major pharmaceutical company and many academic labs are working on amyloid-lowering drugs, and along comes the most clinically promising drug ever [at least according to the data published in The Lancet last year], and it actually raises amyloid levels," Gandy said.

"This will definitely tell us something previously unsuspected about either a novel drug target or about amyloid metabolism," Gandy continued. "Unraveling this story will change how we think about Alzheimer's drugs, how we think about amyloid, or both."

It could be that Dimebon neutralizes then expels the excess amyloid from the brain, or that there is actually some benefit to having amyloid outside the neuron as opposed to inside (where it might be more toxic), Gandy postulated.