Research In Brief
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Ibuprofen & Alzheimer's: Analgesic may protect against disease due to inhibition of amyloid-beta 42 peptide, a protein found in plaque that kills brain cells of Alzheimer's patients, researchers report in Nov. 8 Nature. Sascha Weggen, UC-San Diego, et al., found 250 mM ibuprofen dissolved in ethanol decreased Aß42 peptide in cultured cells by up to 80%. Also, ibuprofen treatment in three-month old mice "resulted in a highly significant 39% decrease in levels of Aß42...compared with mock-treated animals," researchers report. However, aspirin, naproxen, other NSAIDs showed negative results, indicating a lack of ability to lower Aß42 levels. Although researchers previously believed NSAIDs' mechanism of action was their anti-inflammatory properties, Weggen et al. note "this Aß42 activity may be an important criterion to consider in...trials of NSAIDs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease"...