in the theory of how alzheimers develops in the brain there is first an accumulation of beta amyloid that causes amyloid plaques that kill brain cells
then
inside the brain cells there are tau proteins
these tau proteins get damaged and unwind to form tau tangles which also cause brain cell destruction
where the tau tangles start showing up is usually what part of the brain shows symptoms
you can measure beta amyloid in the brain with an amyloid pet scan and in the spinal fluid
you can measure the tau levels also in the spinal fluid
now there is a new tau pet scan that just got approved that also measures tau levels in the brain
the thinking is if you can remove the amyloid and later the tau you can slow down the disease
the drug aducanumab i was on and am still waiting for the study to restart again removes the amyloid from the brain and maybe affects the tau levels
so remove amyloid and tau especially early on you might be able to slow the disease down
enter
nilotinib or brand name tasigna
its a drug a pill thats given for chronic myeloid leukemia or cml
its already fda approved for this use
ready to be used in alzheimers
once of course the research is done
here is a link to an article and here to the research article on using nilotinib in mild to moderate alzheimers patients to lower the amyloid and the tau levels in the brain
its given for cml at 600 mg twice a day
the biggest side effect at that high dose is it affects dopamine and can cause mood swings
also at the higher levels it can prolong the qt length on the ekg causing arrhythmias
at lower doses it doesn't seem to do either of those very often
this study was a phase 2 single center randomized double blind placebo controlled study for 12 months
in the treatment group or non placebo group they got 150 mg for 27 weeks then changed to 600 mg
they think nilotinib may work by going into the brain through the blood brain barrier to stimulate the garbage cells in the brain to remove the amyloid and amyloid plaques and the tau tangles
the question will be if you do that will the disease get slowed down
that remains to be seen and hopefully answered in a larger phase 3 study
however
what they found
the amyloid plaques were reduced on the pet scans for amyloid in the brain
the amyloid levels in the spinal fluid were changed
the tau levels in the spinal fluid were changed also
there were little side effects noted
ie
it did what they wanted it to do
it seems the lower dose of 150 mg may be the dose to use
whats next
a phase 3 study giving nilotinib to a much larger group
this study will answer if it helps
then
since its already fda approved then it could be easily used to treat early alzheimers
this drug has been used for awhile for cml and has been generally well tolerated
hopefully
the phase 3 study confirms its working in alzheimers disease
also
this drug is about $15,000 a year at discounted prices but is covered some by insurances usually
my drug is expected to be between $50,000+ a year if its approved
the organicgreen doctor
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