WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study, published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, suggests that a common type of HIV medication called nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or NRTIs might lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers looked at medical data from over 270,000 people aged 50 and older. They found that for each year a person took NRTIs, their risk of getting Alzheimer's went down by 6 percent to 13 percent.
Although this study doesn't prove that NRTIs cause the risk reduction since it's based on observation, not a clinical trial, the link is strong enough to explore further.
Researchers noted that one possible reason this might work has to do with inflammation in the brain. Special proteins called inflammasomes can trigger brain inflammation, which is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer's. This inflammation is often linked to a buildup of harmful proteins called amyloid-beta and tau.
Scientists think that NRTIs might help by calming this inflammation, though more research is needed. The researchers behind this study are now pushing for clinical trials to test how well NRTIs might work against Alzheimer's.
'We have also developed a new inflammasome-blocking drug called K9, which is a safer and more effective version of NRTIs,' said ophthalmologist Jayakrishna Ambati, from the University of Virginia.
'This drug is already in clinical trials for other diseases, and we plan to also test K9 in Alzheimer's disease.'
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