Antibiotics May Slow Alzheimer's
Antibiotics May Slow Alzheimer's
Oct. 9, 2003 -- The race is on to develop drugs to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, with dozens of new treatments under investigation. Now, intriguing early research suggests that cheap and effective Alzheimer's drugs may already be sitting in your medicine cabinet.
Canadian researchers will report this week that two common antibiotics, taken together, can change the course of Alzheimer's disease and that these changes seem to be long lasting. The findings are to be presented in San Diego at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Though the findings must be confirmed, lead investigator Mark B. Loeb, MD, of Ontario's McMaster University, says antibiotics may have a role in the treatment of patients who are not responding to other therapies. He warned, however, that long-term use of antibiotics is probably not a good idea, due to the possibility of developing antibiotic resistance.
Roughly 4 million people in the U.S. are believed to have Alzheimer's disease, and that number is expected to more than triple within the next four decades as our society continues to age.
So far, the only drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat the disease are Reminyl and other agents in the class known as cholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs help preserve brain chemicals linked to memory but do not directly slow brain degeneration.
Loeb tells WebMD that his research team began studying antibiotics in Alzheimer's disease after a 1998 study found an increased incidence of the infection Chlamydia pneumoniae in the brains of deceased Alzheimer's patients.
In the newly reported study, 101 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease at five medical centers throughout Canada were treated with either a three-month course of the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin or inactive placebo pills. Neither the study investigators, the treating physicians, nor the patients knew who got which treatment.
Standardized tests measuring brain function were administered at the start of the study and three months after the patients were taken off the treatments. At the follow-up evaluation, mental scores among the patients in the placebo group had declined by an average of 2.75 points more (on a 70-point scale) than the patients who took the antibiotics. Though the differences in the scores were not considered to be much different from those taking placebo, it still indicated that the patients who took the antibiotics had slower mental decline.
"The slowing in mental decline that we saw was in the same ballpark as that seen with the cholinestrase inhibitors," Loeb tells WebMD. "Because of this, I think it might be prudent to consider an antibiotic regimen for patients who are doing badly on [cholinesterase inhibitors]."
Canadian researchers will report this week that two common antibiotics, taken together, can change the course of Alzheimer's disease and that these changes seem to be long lasting. The findings are to be presented in San Diego at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Though the findings must be confirmed, lead investigator Mark B. Loeb, MD, of Ontario's McMaster University, says antibiotics may have a role in the treatment of patients who are not responding to other therapies. He warned, however, that long-term use of antibiotics is probably not a good idea, due to the possibility of developing antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics vs. Placebo
Roughly 4 million people in the U.S. are believed to have Alzheimer's disease, and that number is expected to more than triple within the next four decades as our society continues to age.
So far, the only drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat the disease are Reminyl and other agents in the class known as cholinesterase inhibitors. These drugs help preserve brain chemicals linked to memory but do not directly slow brain degeneration.
Loeb tells WebMD that his research team began studying antibiotics in Alzheimer's disease after a 1998 study found an increased incidence of the infection Chlamydia pneumoniae in the brains of deceased Alzheimer's patients.
In the newly reported study, 101 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease at five medical centers throughout Canada were treated with either a three-month course of the antibiotics doxycycline and rifampin or inactive placebo pills. Neither the study investigators, the treating physicians, nor the patients knew who got which treatment.
Standardized tests measuring brain function were administered at the start of the study and three months after the patients were taken off the treatments. At the follow-up evaluation, mental scores among the patients in the placebo group had declined by an average of 2.75 points more (on a 70-point scale) than the patients who took the antibiotics. Though the differences in the scores were not considered to be much different from those taking placebo, it still indicated that the patients who took the antibiotics had slower mental decline.
"The slowing in mental decline that we saw was in the same ballpark as that seen with the cholinestrase inhibitors," Loeb tells WebMD. "Because of this, I think it might be prudent to consider an antibiotic regimen for patients who are doing badly on [cholinesterase inhibitors]."
