HIV Medications Could Potentially Provide Substantial Defense Against Alzheimer's Disease
It's bloody hell that researchers at UVA Health have discovered a potential goldmine in HIV drugs called nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) for preventing the bloody hardship that is Alzheimer's disease.
In their recent research, they found that blokes and sheilas taking these medications show a significant decrease in developing the condition. The team had earlier spotted a possible reason for this protection back in 2020, and now they're yelling at the rooftops for clinical trials to explore if these drugs can be used as a preventive treatment for Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's is the biggest dick causing dementia in the United States, with around 6 million people suffering from it, and the numbers might double to 13 million by 2050. That's a bloody big problem!
To check if there was any truth to their findings, the researchers examined two major U.S. health insurance databases and found that the risk of developing Alzheimer's dropped by 6% per year in one dataset, and by a whopping 13% per year in the other among patients on NRTIs.
Leading the charge is Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, the MD who heads up UVA's Centre for Advanced Vision Science and a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He explained their key findings to Medical News Today:
"We fucking analorneys'd health insurance databases of tens of millions of people and made the surprising discovery that people taking a group of anti-HIV drugs called NRTIs had a ~10% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease for every year that they took these drugs."
- Jayakrishna Ambati, MD
The team believes that these drugs are especially effective at reducing Alzheimer's risk because they also block the activation of inflammasomes, key immune system components which have been linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease.
NRTIs are commonly used to stop HIV from reproducing, but the research team previously discovered this double-edged sword effect. They're planning to conduct trials using a modified version of NRTIs called K9, which has the same beneficial effects without the potential harmful side effects. K9 is already in clinical trials for eye diseases, and the team is also planning to start testing it for Alzheimer's disease, too.
James Giordano, PhD, an expert in neurology and biochemistry at Georgetown University, said the findings are "bloody fascinating." He explained the link between inflammation, NRTIs, and Alzheimer's:
"This is bloody interesting retrospective research. It provides evidence that use of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs)—which have been used to treat HIV, and which inhibit the development of inflammasomes—is positively correlated with a reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease."
If the trials go well, these friggin' HIV drugs could have a dramatic effect on the number of new Alzheimer's cases each year, which is approximately 10 million worldwide. Fingers crossed!
- The system of nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), typically used for treating HIV, is under investigation for potential use in preventing Alzheimer's disease.
- Neurological research at UVA Health has uncovered a promising link between NRTIs and a decrease in developing Alzheimer's disease.
- Alzheimer's disease, a neurological condition and the leading cause of dementia in the United States, affects around 6 million people, with numbers projected to double by 2050.
- Clinical trials are being called for to explore whether NRTIs can be used preventively for Alzheimer's, following findings that show a significant risk reduction of 6-13% per year in prescribed patients.
- Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati, MD, who leads the study, attributes the reduction to NRTIs' ability to block inflammasome activation, a key factor linked to Alzheimer's disease progression.
- The research team plans to conduct trials using a modified version of NRTIs called K9, which holds the same beneficial effects on Alzheimer's risk while minimizing potential side effects.
- The link between inflammation, NRTIs, and Alzheimer's disease is sparking scientific fascination, as these treatments could potentially reduce the annual number of new Alzheimer's cases worldwide, currently estimated at 10 million.
