Diabetes Drug Pramlintide Promises to Treat and Detect Alzheimer’s Disease

Highlights

• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia.
• Scientists are on the verge of finding a simple blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
• Diabetes drug Pramlintide shows promise in the treatment and detection of Alzheimer’s disease, finds a new study.

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease and is a common cause of dementia. A recent study from the Boston University Medical Center has found that treatment with diabetes drug Pramlintide can improve learning and memory functions in Alzheimer disease patients. The drug may also reduce the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain. The study findings published in the Journal Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, may also help to develop a blood test for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.

Lumbar punctures and positron emission tomography imaging scans are used for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the patients fear for the diagnostic procedure and they are also found to be of high cost.

Wendy Qiu, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine, said, "A single injection of pramlintide into our patients was well tolerated and reduced the amyloid burden as well as lowered the concentrations of amyloid-β peptides, a major component of AD in the brain."

Qiu, added that, "Our study suggests a potential role for the creation of a blood test that relies on pramlintide, which could cross the blood-brain barrier and help to translocate the biomarkers related to AD pathology including amyloid-β peptides and neuroinflammation, from the brain into the bloodstream where they can be detected."

Pramlintide Drug
Pramlintide drug belongs to a group of medications called antihyperglycemics and is often prescribed for patients whose blood sugar levels cannot be controlled by insulin or other diabetes medication.

The drug comes in the form of an injection to be given subcutaneously (under the skin).

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Side Effects

• Redness or swelling at the injection site
• Fatigue
• Stomach pain
• Dizziness
• Cough
• Joint pain
• Sore throat

Interesting Facts on Alzheimer’s Disease

• The number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease has increased by 89%
• One out of three seniors die due to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia
• More than 5 million people in America are living with Alzheimer’s disease
• As in 2017, Alzheimer’s and other dementias may cost the nation for about $250 billion

References

1. 2017 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures - (http://www.alz.org/facts/ )
2. Pramlintide Injection - (https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a605031.html)

Source-Medindia