New strategy reduces brain damage in Alzheimer's and related disorders in mice (Cheap digoxin “halts disease progression”)

Medical Xpress / Washington University School of Medicine ^ | Mar. 18, 2022 | Tamara Bhandari / Carolyn N. Mann et al

[ConservativeMind]

Alzheimer's disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study has shown that targeting astrocytes—an inflammatory cell in the brain—reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice.

The findings highlight the pivotal role of astrocytes in driving brain damage in tauopathies, and open up new avenues toward better therapies for the group of devastating and difficult to treat conditions.

"Brain inflammation is emerging as a contributor to the development of Alzheimer's disease, and that inflammation is driven by non-neuronal cells in the brain, including astrocytes," said senior author Gilbert Gallardo, Ph.D.

The researchers found that alpha2-NKA was highly expressed in people who had died of Alzheimer's or PSP compared with those who had died of other causes, suggesting that the protein could be a contributor to brain damage in both conditions.

To further investigate the role of alpha2-NKA, the researchers turned to mice genetically engineered to start developing tau tangles by about 6 months of age. By 9 ½ months of age, such animals' brains are damaged, atrophied and inflamed, and they have lost the ability to properly perform everyday tasks of rodent life such as building a nest.

Digoxin, a drug used to treat heart conditions, interferes with the activity of alpha2-NKA. The researchers tested whether treating mice with digoxin could reduce tau tangles, brain shrinkage and inflammation, and behavioral changes. The drug worked, and moreover, it worked whether they gave the compound to mice under 6 months old, when the animals were just beginning to develop tau tangles, or at 8 months, when the tangles and damage already were established.

"The take-home message here is that suppressing the inflamed astrocytic state halts disease progression," Mann said.

[ConservativeMind]

Another repurposed drug appears very useful for a different disorder.

Digoxin is around $13 for 30 pills, according to Goodrx.com.

[ConservativeMind]

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[vikingd00d]

>>Digoxin is around $13 for 30 pills

Plant foxglove in your garden and it’s basically free.

[metmom]

A cheap treatment?

It will be squashed. You just can’t have any good, effective, inexpensive treatments for debilitating conditions, you know.

[beethovenfan]

Cheap? We can’t have that, can we?

[Capt. Tom]

"The take-home message here is that suppressing the inflamed astrocytic state halts disease progression," Mann said.

That would be a big step forward.

Right now the medical profession can't stop or reverse Alzheimer's. It only gets worse. - Tom

[Faith65]

Thanks.
Bkmk

[ph_balanced]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this. There is a history of Alzheimer’s on my mother’s side of the family. I’ve been taking digoxin since 1991 for a heart rhythm issue. So, maybe I’m at lower risk than I thought.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Bump4L

[Tahoe3002]

Lost my wife of 37 years to Alzheimer's, Easter morning 2020.
I have been a volunteer in multiple Alzheimer's studies at Kansas University.
Most of the studies are around diet and/or exercise not prescribed meds.