A New Antibiotic Could Help Prevent Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s

Researchers have found that antibiotic minocycline can increase the lifespan of aged roundworms by preventing the build-up of proteins, revealing a protective mechanism that could be used to help prevent age-related neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

Protein aggregation has been known to cause several progressive age-related brain diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and prion disease.

The study, led by a team from the Scripps Research in the US, showed that minocycline prevents this build-up even in older animals with age-impaired stress-response pathways.

The number of proteins in a cell is balanced by the rate of protein manufacture and disposal, called proteostasis. As we age, proteostasis becomes impaired.

For the study, the team first tested 21 different molecules known to extend lifespan in young and old Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) worms.

They found that all of these molecules prolonged the lives of young worms; however, the only drug that worked on older worms was minocycline.

To find out why, they treated young and old worms with either water or minocycline and then measured two proteins called a-synuclein and amyloid-ß -- known to build up in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, respectively.

It is because minocycline directly affects the protein-manufacturing machinery of the cell, known as the ribosome. This was true in worms as well as in mouse and human cells, the researchers said.

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COMMON DRUGS MAY HELP TO FIGHT DEMENTIA BETTER !

Everyday medicines like antibiotics, acne pills and other 

routine treatments that are already in bathroom cabinets 

could be used in the battle against dementia as developing 

new drugs is too costly and slow, experts have suggested. 


According to experts, it is time to re-examine medicines 

already in circulation as cheaper, quicker alternatives to new 

treatments. 


Many have multiple effects on the body, so some could be 

able to ease the effects of Alzheimer's and other forms of 

dementia. 


There are only four Alzheimer's drugs in use which can help 

relieve symptoms but do nothing to stop damage to the brain. 

Defeating dementia is one of the biggest challenges facing 

both medicine and society as a whole.


Developing new drugs is incredibly important but it comes 

with a huge price tag and, for those affected by dementia, an 

unimaginable wait. 


It can take up to 20 years and 600 million pounds to create a 

drug from scratch. Hopes of quickly adding to available 

treatments were recently dashed when several promising 

new ones failed the final stage of testing. 


So  experts turned to the possibility of using everyday drugs. 

They drew up a short-list, which includes liraglutide - a 

diabetes treatment that also acts on the brain. 

Others include minocycline, an antibiotic for acne, and 

acitretin, which treats the skin condition psoriasis. There is 

also a family of blood pressure drugs called calcium channel 

blockers. 


Some of these medicines cost less than 50p a tablet. 

The idea that drugs for other conditions could fight 

Alzheimer's is appealing, according yo researchers.


But it's not yet clear that such a drug exists. Alzheimer's is a 

complex disease with many risk factors.