Salsalate drug offers new hope for treating Alzheimer's disease and FTD

[Omaha Steve]

September 21, 2015

Scientists from the Gladstone Institutes have discovered that salsalate, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, effectively reversed tau-related dysfunction in an animal model of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Salsalate prevented the accumulation of tau in the brain and protected against cognitive impairments resembling impairments seen in Alzheimer's disease and FTD.

Salsalate inhibits tau acetylation, a chemical process that can change the function and properties of a protein. Published in Nature Medicine, the researchers revealed that acetylated tau is a particularly toxic form of the protein, driving neurodegeneration and cognitive deficits. Salsalate successfully reversed these effects in a mouse model of FTD, lowering tau levels in the brain, rescuing memory impairments, and protecting against atrophy of the hippocampus--a brain region essential for memory formation that is impacted by dementia.

"We identified for the first time a pharmacological approach that reverses all aspects of tau toxicity," says co-senior author Li Gan, PhD, an associate investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. "Remarkably, the profound protective effects of salsalate were achieved even though it was administered after disease onset, indicating that it may be an effective treatment option."

Although tau has been a target in dementia research for some time, there are no tau-targeted drugs available for patients. Additionally, how the protein builds up in the brain, causing toxicity and contributing to disease, still remains largely a mystery.

FULL story: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20150921/Salsalate-drug-offers-new-hope-for-treating-Alzheimers-disease-and-FTD.aspx

I was diagnosed with FTD 5 years ago right before Christmas. You can see it in my MRI.

My first telling the DU and the world I have FTD: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10026641619

I have started on trazodone. See the story below.

OS

https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/drugs-found-prevent-brain-degeneration-mice/

A protein called eIF2? plays an important role in the UPR and has been shown to be overactive in diseases like Alzheimer’s. The researchers in this study set out to find drugs that could target this protein and limit the effects of the UPR, screening a library of over 1,000 existing drugs. Two drugs, trazodone, a licensed antidepressant and dibenzoylmethane, which is being investigated in research studies as a potential cancer treatment, showed signs of the effect they were looking for.

[tblue37]

1. K&R for hope & good luck! nt

[Omaha Steve]

4. Thank you

[Jane Austin]

2. Oh, please keep us posted

on your progress!

[Omaha Steve]

3. Considering a newbie told me I don't have FTD etc

I don't think it was a caver either. I got so upset I answered the question with a medical link and got a hide for it.

OS

[ColoradoBlue]

5. Thank you for sharing

My mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's several years ago and passed away last year at the age of 71. But all four of her children (including one who is an MD) are convinced she actually had FTD (the symptoms fit so much better with hers than ALZ). Of course, we are all worried about the possibility of also getting it and are hoping against hope for a break-thru for ourselves and others like you who are already battling it.

Best wishes to you and thank you again for sharing.

[Omaha Steve]

8. My mother was 80 when she was diagnosed with dementia

It wasn't FTD because she had different symptoms.

OS

[stevenleser]

6. Hopeful it will help you and others with those conditions. The name sounds good too

Sounds like Salsa-Latte.

[AwakeAtLast]

7. Encouraging news

I hope you are able to get good results, too!