Our team of neuroscientists headed to Copenhagen recently for the 2014 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), and now share highlights from their favorite sessions.
Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation scientists Rachel Lane, Penny Dacks, and Diana Shineman.
- More evidence suggests that modifying lifestyle factors can prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Investigators presented high-quality evidence demonstrating that exercise, a healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption, education, and effective management of hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. In fact, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease is actually decreasing in developed nations, where individuals are already reaping the benefits of these lifestyle changes.
- Two promising antibody therapies may slow cognitive decline. While Genentech’s phase 3 clinical trial of an anti-amyloid antibody therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, crenezumab, failed because it did not meet its primary endpoints, an additional analysis suggested it did slow cognitive decline (by over 30 percent) in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients. Coupled with results from Lilly’s antibody therapy trial in 2012, which also showed a decrease in cognitive decline in early-stage patients, the research provides some indication that clearing amyloid at the earliest stages of disease may benefit a subset of patients. We need further research evaluating larger numbers of such patients to confirm these findings, some of which is already underway.
- We can now see Alzheimer’s tangles with brain imaging tools. Many physicians are currently utilizing FDA-approved brain imaging tests to detect amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, but these plaques can be present in individuals who never develop symptoms of the disease. New imaging agents target the tangles (i.e., clumps of tau), which aid in tracking Alzheimer’s progression and determining the efficacy of any given drug. Researchers at AAIC also noted that some of these imaging tools may work for related diseases that also have tangles, such as frontotemporal degeneration, and could be used to assess the presence of tau tangles in the brain after a traumatic brain injury.
- Treatments that target systemic inflammation offer promise to Alzheimer’s patients. Inflammation increases with aging and systemic inflammation is recognized as a driver of Alzheimer’s disease. An analysis of data from a previous clinical trial presented at AAIC showed that patients with high levels of inflammation responded positively to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment, naproxen (Aleve), while patients with low levels of inflammation were worsened by the treatment. Another study using the anti-inflammatory arthritis drug etanercept (Enbrel) in a Phase 2 trial did not meet its endpoints but showed hints of stabilizing cognitive decline in a small subset population.
- New drugs to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are in development. Lundbeck’s drug, a 5-HT6 receptor antagonist, was shown to have an added effect on cognitive function when combined with the FDA-approved acetylcholinesterase-inhibitor donepezil. A large, global phase 3 study is underway to further evaluate the drug’s prospects. Unfortunately, in related news from AAIC, research on an alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist drug from AbbVie revealed that the drug was not significantly more effective than existing symptomatic treatments for Alzheimer’s.