New research from Auburn University shows promising results for a drug that may prevent Alzheimer's disease, after trials have slowed and reversed cognitive decline in mice. This comes during November, Alzheimer's Awareness Month, bringing hope for the millions affected by Alzheimer’s.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, characterized by memory loss, poor judgment and difficulty solving problems and completing familiar tasks.
As of March 2023, approximately 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s, and this amount could increase to 13.8 million by 2060. With only basic treatments, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
The demand for Alzheimer's preventatives is high, and Auburn University researchers Dr. Miranda Reed and Dr. Michael Grimlich have discovered a potential solution in a novel drug named troriluzole by studying mice models.
As a Drug Discovery and Development professor in the Harrison College of Pharmacy and Director for the Center for Neuroscience Initiative, Reed studies "how learning and memory can go awry." With previous experience working with mouse models, Reed focuses on the mice's behavioral symptoms.
Her research partner Grimlich, assistant biophysics professor, focuses on the mice's brains at the molecular level. Outside of his work with Reed, Grimlich works with comparative anatomy professor Dr. Wendy Hood on mitochondrial research and the College of Nursing on muscular research.
Reed and Grimlich began their work on Alzheimer’s preventives when Auburn University hired Grimlich in 2018. Their recent research has shown that the novel drug troriluzole can slow and reverse cognitive decline in mice.
Reed and Grimlich’s study involves mice subjects genetically modified to imitate Alzheimer’s disease in early to moderate stages. Before treatment, the mice exhibit symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, but once administered troriluzole through water, the mice’s cognitive abilities improve.
Grimlich wanted to emphasize the unique value of Auburn University and the collaborative efforts on research.
“There’s a lot of opportunities at Auburn that are available,” Grimlich said. “Part of why the biophysics cluster was created was to, sort of, help interact with all of the different groups in Auburn and try and come up with collaborative research projects that can push fields forward.”
To analyze Reed’s research molecularly, Grimlich analyzes the mice’s neurons with and without drugs through cell culturing, which involves placing neurons removed from the brain on glass slides, keeping those neurons alive and examining them for molecular outcomes that could result in behavioral changes.
Since Alzheimer’s has multiple mutations leading to the same disease, Grimlich explained that Reed and his bottom-up research is advantageous, because it analyzes the brain at many different levels.
“We’ve got different models of Alzheimer’s disease, because there’s a bunch of different mutations that all lead to [Alzheimer’s disease]” Grimlich said. “And we’re able to show different mutations lead to different molecular changes, but they all look the same in the end.”
As Grimlich described, the molecular pathways to Alzheimer’s are different yet appear the same in the end, so he and Reed are testing models and theories “not everyone else in the country can do.”
“That’s what makes Alzheimer’s disease such a difficult problem is that there’s so many different ways you can get to the same outcome, which is degeneration” Grimlich said. “And you really ought to be careful about which particular one you’re targeting for each individual, because it might be different things for different people.”
Reed admitted scientists have resorted to treating Alzheimer’s symptoms because they have not developed a way to diagnose the disease before neurons are destroyed. When teaching her pharmacy students, Reed explained their “sad” goal is “six to twelve months of the patient not getting worse.”
“We are not even aiming to stop disease progression,” Reed said.
Recognizing this need for change, Reed can propose the possible preventive troriluzole, which can help repair synapses, but late diagnoses are an issue.
“Eventually, the whole neuron is lost, but early on, the synapse is where the dysfunction starts, and it’s where we actually have a chance to intervene,” Reed said. “Because if we wait until the neuron dies, we don’t really have a way to fix that.”
Unfortunately, Reed explained that usually by the time Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, the neurons are destroyed, and since troriluzole can only repair synapses, it cannot be a realistic preventive for Alzheimer’s.
However, Reed has found other more practical medical uses for troriluzole like preventing memory loss in chemotherapy patients.
Called “chemo brain” or “chemo fog,” cancer patients after undergoing chemotherapy can suffer cognitive decline. Reed explained chemotherapy agents can create cognitive impairments that last five to ten years after a patient has stopped chemo.
“This is becoming a bigger issue because the chemotherapy agents are working well enough to keep people alive, but now you’ve got all these people with cognitive impairment that’s resulting from that treatment,” Reed said.
As Reed explained, troriluzole could be a practical preventive for chemo brain, because unlike Alzheimer’s, researchers understand how and when chemo will likely disrupt the brain.
“So, we’re basically doing the exact same study, but now we’re doing it with chemo brain to see whether or not we can prevent the chemotherapy from having those negative effects on cognition,” Reed said.
As of now, Reed has shifted her research to chemo brain, but she hopes with the progression of medicine, researchers will discover more ways to measure signs of Alzheimer’s in the future.
If interested in her other research, Reed spoke on the SciPod podcast about how prenatal cannabis use affects an unborn baby's brain development and cognitive abilities.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
