Title:Diabetic Theory in Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Research and Development - Part 1: Therapeutic Potential of Antidiabetic Agents
Volume: 27
Issue: 39
Author(s): Agnieszka Jankowska, Anna Wesołowska*, Maciej Pawłowski and Grażyna Chłoń-Rzepa*
Affiliation:
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 9 Medyczna Street, 30-688 Krakow,Poland
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 9 Medyczna Street, 30-688 Krakow,Poland
Keywords:
Alzheimer's disease, BPSD, cognitive impairments, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, type III
diabetes, antidiabetic drugs, anti-inflammatory activity.
Abstract: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder that
affects over 46 million people worldwide. It is characterized by a decline in cognitive abilities, including
memory and thinking skills. AD patients also suffer from behavioral and psychological
symptoms of dementia of which depression is the most prevalent. Currently available drugs provide
modest symptomatic relief and do not reduce pathological hallmarks (senile plaques and neurofibrillary
tangles) and neuroinflammation, both of which are integral parts of AD. Studies suggest that AD
is a type of diabetes manifested in the brain. Although AD and diabetes are currently classified as
separate disease entities, they share common pathophysiological mechanisms, one of them is an increased
level of cytokines involved in the inflammation and the regulation of metabolic, regenerative,
and neural processes. The purpose of this review was to update the most recent reports on the discovery
and development of antidiabetic agents as promising drugs for the symptomatic and diseasemodifying
treatment of AD. We collected the results of in vitro and in vivo studies, and recent reports
from clinical trials suggesting the utility of antidiabetic agents in memory-enhancing therapy of AD.
Their beneficial effects on chronic neuroinflammation, pathological hallmarks, and neuropsychiatric
symptoms co-occurring with cognitive deficits are also presented. Antidiabetic agents refer to the
diabetic and inflammatory hypotheses of AD and provide hope to find an effective drug for comprehensive
therapy of the disease.